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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Family reported my husband to Adult Social Services

409 replies

LucyLoo1972 · 02/08/2024 05:02

Its a long story but eight years ago I suffered an absolutely devastating psychotic breakdown after I submitted my PhD. Before this time I had what a thought was an amazing and near perfect marriage. I love my husband very very much. Over the time I have been unwell things have been very difficult. We had never really had a row before my breakdown (at the time I thought this was good but now I see it was a sign of lack of honesty and communication). Since being unwell I have seen a lot of things that were putting a serious strain on me which have come out in therapy. My doctors have been fairly certain though that at root the extreme and total breakdown is rooted in childhood trauma. My father, mother and sister were all abusive especially my father.

I have spoken to my sister about some of the issues that are difficult in my marriage as my husband has not responded well to my illness. I am a totally changed person and having never said a word about anything before, after the breakdown it was like a volcano of rage and anger and frustration coming out for my husbands neglect of me and my needs.

I spoke to my sister about the difficulties which have included my husband's hoarding, verbal abuse (in response though to my anger which has been out of control at times of which I am not proud), him not transferring money into my account on time sometimes so I don't have access to money, him not wanting to eat in the same room as me or be with me, him not engaging with my therapy and my abusive family with whom we have had little interaction on a regular basis are frustrated that he refuses to answer phonically.

Yesterday Adult Social Services phones me to say my father and my sister had made a report of concern for my wellbeing and safety at home. This morning I had to go to a meeting and explain the concerns to them.

AIBU in feeling this is an overreach by the state? I was there for two hours explaining everything to them and my husband os devastated as for eight years he has tried to care for me when I have been seriously unwell and devastated and angry that my whole life has been taken from me and Im not really getting better. Im especially angry that the report came from my original abuser.my life is in utter and complete ruins.

OP posts:
LucyLoo1972 · 04/08/2024 11:38

Yalta · 04/08/2024 11:02

I suppose you have to ask yourself

If you had lived on your own and never met your dh

Would you have had a breakdown

ive asked myself that many times and I am not sure. the original trauma ws there but I was obviously managing without substance abuse or sever mental illness at that time.

I would not have made the decisions I did without his influence I don't think.

there are things about that that I don't understand at all like why did I feel unworthy compared to him when now I see he was more needy of me and daring of me than the other way round.

OP posts:
Elleherd · 04/08/2024 12:13

Why is your dh tidying up when SS have already seen pictures of the hoarding. Does he think that a bit of tidying is going to have them forget what they have already seen
Is he so arrogant to think he can gaslight them into thinking you have over exaggerated the extent of his hoarding and suddenly make the photographic evidence disappear

Hoarding is a mental illness but being able to tidy up his hoarding indicates something else
It does sound like it was done on purpose and he didn’t care what you thought. It again is that constant drip drip drip of poison.

This is just absolutely incorrect and I would like to see any research to suggest otherwise.
He is almost certainly tidying the hoard because attention has been drawn to what he is normally blind to, and reminded him that hoarding gets heavily judged.

he knows it is likely that it's about to be seen by others outside those he trusts and is feeling very deep shame.
It is an absolute standard response of every hoarder about to be judged by others coming in to offer their opinion on the symptom of their mental health condition.
Being able to tidy an already tidy, or untidy, hoard, doesn't indicate anything sinister about the person with the hoarding disorder. It indicates they are aware they are about to be judged, for what they generally already judge themselves heavily for.

Being unable to tidy it in any way when potentially about to be inspected, does indicate some things to a professional.

LucyLoo1972 · 04/08/2024 12:34

Elleherd · 04/08/2024 12:13

Why is your dh tidying up when SS have already seen pictures of the hoarding. Does he think that a bit of tidying is going to have them forget what they have already seen
Is he so arrogant to think he can gaslight them into thinking you have over exaggerated the extent of his hoarding and suddenly make the photographic evidence disappear

Hoarding is a mental illness but being able to tidy up his hoarding indicates something else
It does sound like it was done on purpose and he didn’t care what you thought. It again is that constant drip drip drip of poison.

This is just absolutely incorrect and I would like to see any research to suggest otherwise.
He is almost certainly tidying the hoard because attention has been drawn to what he is normally blind to, and reminded him that hoarding gets heavily judged.

he knows it is likely that it's about to be seen by others outside those he trusts and is feeling very deep shame.
It is an absolute standard response of every hoarder about to be judged by others coming in to offer their opinion on the symptom of their mental health condition.
Being able to tidy an already tidy, or untidy, hoard, doesn't indicate anything sinister about the person with the hoarding disorder. It indicates they are aware they are about to be judged, for what they generally already judge themselves heavily for.

Being unable to tidy it in any way when potentially about to be inspected, does indicate some things to a professional.

yes this is spot on. 100 %

he doesn't actually get rid of anything much although he did have a debate about taking some of his threadbare shirts to a recycling bin. he has kept every shirt he has ever worn since he started work 25 years ago.

OP posts:
LucyLoo1972 · 04/08/2024 12:36

LucyLoo1972 · 04/08/2024 12:34

yes this is spot on. 100 %

he doesn't actually get rid of anything much although he did have a debate about taking some of his threadbare shirts to a recycling bin. he has kept every shirt he has ever worn since he started work 25 years ago.

He can't really tidy it to a standard that wouldn't be seen as hoarding.

he shuffles stuff around but it never goes anywhere.

he spends weeks tidying and nothing goes out the house. he refuses to let me touch anything.

OP posts:
Elleherd · 04/08/2024 13:30

I think you need to come to terms with the idea that you and your husband are and always have been, two quietly dysfunctional individuals with a range of serious MH problems you have both been hiding from, who found happiness and comfort with each other until it all went wrong for you, and you are now trying to blame him and his dysfunction for yours, because you don't really want agency even now, though you can see you need to take it.

You created a fairy tale because it allowed you to overlook everything that might not have been perfect. It's easy to do, we are brought up to seek fairy tale endings and those of us with terrible beginnings and lives are particularly desperate for them.

Lots of people will be happy to say because his MH condition is hoarding, that this is somehow a particular MH condition that is just so appalling in their eyes, that everything can be blamed on it, and everyone else is therefore entitled to 'victim who did no wrong' status.

Others will be happy to say his dysfunction whatever it is, is the problem, and you are just the eternal victim of men.

There very much are men who are coercive and seek to control, and there are men who control by actions not actually intended to control others, and unsurprisingly there are also so many women doing exactly the same things, so I am wary of the 'her dysfunction = poor once perfect now damaged woman victim' vs 'his dysfunction = nasty calculating controlling knows exactly what he's doing, man predator.'
It's a comfortable get out, but wont serve you in a better future life.

I believe you would easily have had a breakdown in other circumstances too, because I hear all the signs that say say eventually the fragility of your created to please persona/ personality would have become overloaded.

I may be biased here, as your story resonates painfully for me as the equally dysfunctional partner on the receiving end of the 'perfect' high achieving partner who's entire persona was actually entirely a construction to deal with ASD and what happened when they broke, but couldn't let go of their 'perfect' self image bit of that persona, because owning imperfection and knowing who they really were, was entirely unpracticed and frightening for them and not what their wider family wanted either.

I thought he was utterly amazing wanting visibly disabled me and so accepting of me LP'ing my large brood of children and step children, and no dodgy vibes around them, running my own business in a male industry, and keeping it all together despite a truly horrendous past, and journey.

He appeared to be just the most amazing wonderful unusual hard working bloke who understood that I came with much baggage, and incredibly wanted to be part of the chaos, but was respectful of my barriers over my children.
However I wanted it, was good by him, he was the one coming into the set up.
Everybody told me how lucky I was, and how amazing it was that someone in my position had ended up with him. I made sure he knew what he was getting, expecting him to bolt, but he didn't, despite me being in the thick of all sorts.

Everybody who knew him, confirmed that what you could see was what you got. He just really was just a lovely, lovely easy going man, used to the realities of both disability, and the concept of stepping up to the plate for children automatically, who was available because he'd found women a bit difficult to navigate when younger, and was now steeped in work, with retired parents.

He, I, and everyone, believed it, and those who might know more stayed silent and hoped I'd make more effort to look like some sort of catch visually. He loved that I was as was, and I loved that he saw past so much. Our own quiet fairy tale match for over a decade despite the odds, so I passed over the occasional weirdly out of character incidents. Few and far between, and who was I to expect perfection?
What happened to that man? He broke, burnt out trying to be this created personality of perfection that would be approved off by all 24/7, and never acknowledging who else he really might be.

You quiet rightly acknowledge that actually the main issues in your relationship where caused by your husbands already known personality and habits, and your failure to behave like a grownup and have agency, and that this is likely to be down to what your family did to you as a child. But... you still want him to be responsible for all that didn't work for you. Think about that, because I'm not being nasty, it's a big part of why you are stuck.

I think you need to look very hard at the difference between facts and feelings.
You are taking so many of your feelings and seeking to lay them at the feet of the person you feel should be your care-taker, rather than where they appear to originate from, and saying you feel he should have been a different person than the one you have always known him to be, because that's what you needed, therefore that's what he should have provided, because you gave him what you believed was what he wanted. There is so much fitting of 'evidence' to tell your story as you seek to re frame your life. Some will have relevance, but a lot is trying to make a simpler narrative that allows the fairy tale to be the 'real' you and him, still.

I would suggest you are and always have been ND, and have tried to be the person you thought others wanted you to be, until you burnt out as a result and that ultimately is the narrative, regardless of what went on that caused you to behave in specific ways.

Now you are coming to terms with who you really are, and who he really is, which is exactly the same person he's always been, but that means accepting your fairy tale was all about feelings not facts, just as your re-framing of the whole deal now is. If it sounds harsh I apologize, but I've lived through it long term, and seen it happen with another couple which ended tragically.

I can talk to you about the hoarding aspect if you want (later - as it's a subject I have a lot of knowledge about) but I'm afraid that even if your DH was able to accept intervention with hoarding as the symptom of his MH difficulties, and transform the living situation, you both would still have much bigger issues going on that need properly resolving.
You absolutely need better help moving forward than you've been receiving professionally.

Mirabai · 04/08/2024 15:42

LucyLoo1972 · 04/08/2024 10:32

Thank you. I think there is a lot of truth in what you say. given how awful things are it is very surprising to me that my husband gets very agitated if I talk about a separation, even as a trail.

I thought it was work stress which was the major problem but after a couple of years after the breakdown I began to see my marriage differently. funnily enough the most diifcullt thing for me in the marriage was his emotional unavailability and stonewalling and refusal to communicate or plan for our lives. things I haven't even mentioned here.

you seem to know a lot about these things. have you been through something similar?

I can’t say I’ve been in this kind of relationship but we’ve all had our shit to face.

Emotional unavailability is one of the hardest things to deal with. You did mention the stonewalling and not being able to discuss kids or plan your life etc which you rather glossed over. That is major problem in a relationship. Stonewalling is recognised as a form of emotional abuse, as it devalues the partner and renders them powerless. It’s a form of control. And it’s very damaging. It doesn’t sound to me like you’re ever really been heard in this relationship - DH is entirely self-focused and attuned to ensuring his needs are met and that they always trump yours.

Mirabai · 04/08/2024 15:45

I think you need to come to terms with the idea that you and your husband are and always have been, two quietly dysfunctional individuals with a range of serious MH problems you have both been hiding from, who found happiness and comfort with each other until it all went wrong for you, and you are now trying to blame him and his dysfunction for yours, because you don't really want agency even now, though you can see you need to take it.

I agree with the first point but not the second. I don’t see evidence of her blaming him, quite the opposite, she blames herself and minimises his dysfunction. That’s tied into needing to believe in their relationship. I think she’s only slowly realising quite how screwed up he actually is.

Elleherd · 04/08/2024 17:14

Mirabai I'm not a psychologist and I suspect we are reading the same posts different ways in terms of what's being said, as I see a great deal of vacillating between different opinions, saying one moment it's very much her 'fault' and beating herself up over things, while at other points saying he caused the loss of her career etc, then saying the breakdown was actually caused by her father, but I think at the end of the day all of it comes down to struggling to communicate a difficult intertwined situation that she's continued with for a long time, so it's unsurprising if different people see different things in it, but yes I agree she's only really now realizing just how serious his problems are as well as her own.
Whatever any of us think I hope the comments of strangers are more helpful than harmful and help the Op to see there can be many ways of seeing the same thing.

The saying about the need to put your own oxygen mask on first, in order to be able to even consider helping any one else put theirs on, comes to mind.

JadedSoJaded · 04/08/2024 17:48

LucyLoo1972 · 04/08/2024 09:51

My therapist has asked whether he could meet with him for 15 minutes for him to explain to him what a CPTSD diagnosis means and also to check some of the facts around the initial breakdown as I was in a psychotic state and therefore my memory may be impaired. it is in no way to blame him and say its his fault at all. nothing like that has been mentioned and would as others say be unethical because my therapist hasn't seen what happened so how can he now.

It has been suggested that my husband would benefit from private indicual therapy with a hoarding problem with things and money as severe as it is and also the fact that he would benefit from support given the horrific changes that have happened in our lives. not only has this happened and im not getting better quickly but his father has died, my mother has died and his mother has dementia. any one of those things is difficult to deal with especially because his only real emotional support and the person he relied on very heavily even for daily stresses that were very small is noe incapicated. he does not have any friends he will speak to despite their persistent attempts.

and I have asked him to do couples therapy with me which I don't think is unreasonable given how terribly bad things are. I would like us to try that before we separate. it seems ridiculous not to.

so nobody is blaming him.

Surely the mental health professional should be working with your GP, or at least have a copy of your medical notes from the time of the episode prior to your initial consultation? Let alone years down the line? They can’t appropriately assess best therapeutic approach without them. You as the patient cannot reliably provide them an accurate objective description of what happened, as evidenced by the constantly changing narrative in this thread alone.

Did Social Services not visit you initially at your home following reports to them of concern for yourself from a third party? They can’t possibly assess risk to yourself by having a pre arranged meeting at a separate location? I reside in a devolved nation so perhaps process is different wherever you are?

It seems a very strange situation indeed. Presumably your GP prescribes your anxiety medication & is aware that you are under the care of a therapist privately. Hopefully SS & the GP will link up for a synced approach?

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