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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

In thinking if FiL doesn't have menal health issues he's a rude ignorant b******d

9 replies

minxofmancunia · 11/02/2010 13:33

Been with dh nearly 11 years his Mum is divorced from his dad.

FiL lives in ireland in some back of beyond place with no electricity etc.etc. About as remote as you can get. He's shacked up with a woman with v unstable bi-polar disorder who's regularly sectioned. She's a v vulnerable individual.

In 11 years I've met him 3 times. Once at his own Dads 80th, once at our wedding where he sat for 2 hours with his head in his hands not speaking and once at midnight, he and his partner were stranded at manchester airport and needed somewhere to stay so they literally turned up on our doorstep at midnight. I suspect from the smell although I can't prove it they smoked in our house. dd was 12 weeks old at the time.

He didn't send congratulations cards for either dc, we get cards at xmas from his partner. he signs b'day cards for dh as from "stan" not dad. He's not phoned once and has prob sent 3 or 4 emails.

Proir to moving in with his partner he lived in a derelict barn. He dresses and looks like a tramp and has no money despite being a professional accountant. When dh was a child he and BiL had to share a room in a 4 bed house so he could have the other 2 rooms, one for his train set and one as a dark room. He NEVER speaks.

His behaviour would suggest he's a complete arse but I do wonder if he can't help it, to be so shockingly rude and anti-social. Dh had behavioural probs when younger but is all in all quite a cheerful soul. BiL is quite screwed up tbh.

I'm despairing really about what to do about him, he's so bloody odd and I think it's such a shame for my dcs. Dh continues to doggedly make an effort, cards pressies, cd with pics of dcs on etc.

What do you think?

OP posts:
saintlydamemrsturnip · 11/02/2010 13:35

I would say he is likely to have either mental health issues or Asperger's.

JAKEJEM · 11/02/2010 13:39

Sounds like Asperger Syndrome to me.

minxofmancunia · 11/02/2010 13:40

saintlydamemrsturnip that's what I was wondering in which case there's no point trying to push for any change is there?

Also dh very very sociable and emotional so no worries there but he does have his Dads obsessive traits, gets completely absorbed in something to the point of extinction and gets v angry if interrupted or say for example if he makes a list and the things on that list aren't done in that exact order.

Flexibility is not a popular word in our house.

OP posts:
NotQuiteCockney · 11/02/2010 14:01

It does sound like some sort of mental health issue. Maybe Aspergers or similar, maybe something else entirely, some sort of social phobia?

Certainly, it doesn't sound like he is happy and being rude out of a sense of fun. I don't think it's worth trying to push for change, no.

It's possible your DH has picked up some of his dad's behaviours, by copying him, or maybe there's a genetic component. A lack of flexibility could be a sign of insecurity, for example.

minxofmancunia · 11/02/2010 14:10

Dhs auntie is odd too, (FiLs sister), she never smiles, and last time we went to her immaculate completely symmetrical house she told me off for not piling suasage rolls in a certain type of pyramid when i was helping put a buffet out

But although she's sour and grumpy she's v kind knitting lovely gifts for dc and never forgetting anniversaries/b'days etc.

dhs cousin (her daughter) doesn't speak much either. Beyond the point of normal shyness. (speaking as someone who's shy and has had to get over it to actually have some sor of a life)

FiL is also exceptionally clever v good at maths and v articulate with the written word, just doesn't like talking!

OP posts:
MadamDeathstare · 11/02/2010 14:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GibbonInARibbon · 11/02/2010 14:42

I think that some compassion would not go amiss.

minxofmancunia · 11/02/2010 14:57

i have huge amounts of compassion for his partner, i do not think beiing with him is doing her much good. she's called dh in a highly agitated hypomanic state on several ocassions. she was unwell at our wedding, couldn't stop talking, quite delusional, worrying really.

FiL comes across as callous and emotionless, hardly supportive of her. he also didn't have a conversation with mil for te last 10 years of their marriage. refused to speak. that is emotionally abusive imo.

OP posts:
GibbonInARibbon · 11/02/2010 15:00

Sound more like mental health issues to me.

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