Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Support thread for those in Emotionally Abusive relationships number *8*

999 replies

foolonthehill · 12/04/2012 09:54

Am I being abused?

Verbal Abuse A wonderfully non-hysterical summary. If you're unsure, read the whole page and see if you're on it.
Emotional abuse from the same site as above
Emotional abuse a more heartfelt description
Signs of Abuse & Control Useful check list
why financial abuse is domestic violenceAre you a free ride for a cocklodger, or supposed to act grateful for every penny you get for running the home?
Women's Aid: "What is Domestic Violence?" This is also, broadly, the Police definition.
20 signs you're with a controlling and/or abusive partner Exactly what it says on the tin

Books :

"Why Does He Do That?" by Lundy Bancroft - The eye-opener. Read this if you read nothing else.
"The Verbally Abusive Relationship" by Patricia Evans ? He wants power OVER you and gets angry when you prove not to be the dream woman who lives only in his head.
"The Verbally Abusive Man, Can He Change?" by Patricia Evans - Answer: Perhaps - ONLY IF he recognises HIS issues, and if you can be arsed to work through it. She gives explicit guidelines.
"Men who hate women and the women who love them" by Susan Forward. The author is a psychotherapist who realised her own marriage was abusive, so she's invested in helping you understand yourself just as much as helping you understand your abusive partner.
"The Emotionally Abusive Relationship: How to Stop Being Abused and How to Stop Abusing" by Beverley Engels - The principle is sound, if your partner isn't basically an arse, or disordered.
"Codependent No More : How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself" by Melody Beattie - If you a rescuer, you're a co-dependent. It's a form of addiction! This book will help you.
But whatever you do, don't blame yourself for being Co-dependent!

Websites :

So, you're in love with a narcissist - Snarky, witty, angry, but also highly intelligent: very good for catharsis
Dr Irene's verbal abuse site - motherly advice to readers' write-ins from a caring psychotherapist; can be a pain to navigate but very validating stuff
Out of the fog - and now for the science bit! Clinical, dispassionate, and very informative website on the various forms of personality disorders and how they impact on family and intimate relationships.
Get your angries out ? You may not realise it yet, but you ARE angry. Find out in what unhealthy ways your anger is expressing itself. It has probably led you to staying in an unhealthy relationship.
Melanie Tonia Evans is a woman who turned her recovery from abuse into a business. A little bit "woo" and product placement-tastic, but does contain a lot of useful articles.
Love fraud - another site by one woman burned by an abusive marriage
You are not crazy - one woman's experience. She actually has recordings of her and her abusive partner having an argument, so you can hear what verbal abuse sounds like. A pain to navigate, but well worth it.
Baggage reclaim - Part advice column, part blog on the many forms of shitty relationships.
heart to heart a wealth of information and personal experiences drawn together in one place

If you find that he really wants to change

I stay or should I go bonus materials this is a site containing the material for men who want to change?please don?t give him the link?print out the content for him to work through.

The Bill of Rights
bill of rights here is what you should expect as a starting point for your treatment in a relationship, as you will of course be treating others!!

OP posts:
tryingtoescape · 19/05/2012 19:27

Hi EIBD, well done for seeing the red flags before it's too late. Whenever friends who are dating have told me a Mr Wonderful turned out to be a Mr NSW afterall, I just admire them for recognising it and having good self esteeem :) Hope your leg heals quickly and you feel better soon. Good luck!

arthriticfingers · 19/05/2012 19:33

Let me add my congratulations and admiration for being so on the ball Earth
Wish I had been so quick on the uptake. Never is ' It's you, it's him' so true than in cases of fucked up tossers unhappy men with unsolved issues.
Well done and heal fast - both in leg and in spirit.

arthriticfingers · 19/05/2012 19:34

Sorry that was Freudian Blush
It is NOT you repeat NOT you

arthriticfingers · 19/05/2012 19:36

When will we ever start to believe that we are whole and cool?

tryingtoescape · 19/05/2012 19:49

Mine has now returned (mysteriously not gone to live in a room somewhere never to be seen again), has morosely and predictably refused a share of the medicinal fish and chips I bought after fete following your prescription, fingers Wink and is sitting in a miserable cloud of gloom watching footie. I've hidden the wine (partly so I can have it and mostly so he can't get drunk and worse). Everytime he displays his blatent fuckwittery it's a step towards freedom, I almost welcome it, though it freaks me out so much at the time :(

tryingtoescape · 19/05/2012 19:51

PS thanks fingers for the fish and chips idea, I thought of you when buying them :) The kids were delighted with their day.

EarthInBeautyDressed · 19/05/2012 19:58

arthritic, your little Freudian slip made me Grin for the first time today! I know, I'm sure he thinks he's still wholeness and coolness personified. I am not even sure if they are real words but hey... I just wish I hadn't let myself get to this state.

tryingtoescape, I know. I'm lucky, really. Thank you both for your kind wishes. Smile

I've just texted some friends, I've filled up my diary for next week. Even if it's just going to the cinema or for coffee. One day at a time, eh?

arthriticfingers · 19/05/2012 20:05

Yeh us all - yet again - women, we are, indeed, cool!!!

EarthInBeautyDressed · 19/05/2012 20:12

trying, just read back a bit. I'm pleased you and your kids had a good day, it's the little things that bring the biggest smiles, isn't it? Smile

You enjoy your wine later pet. Leave him under his cloud, you keep thinking of the sunshine.

ThePinkPussycat · 19/05/2012 20:21

EIBD I recognise that first stanza.

trying, have PM'd you. If I can help out with my financial and excel skills, which are not too bad after having prepared my marital accounts, please do let me know.

tryingtoescape · 19/05/2012 20:29

EIBD, well done you, great idea to fill up diary! Def one day at a time.

Fingers, yeh to us all indeed, this thread is such a great thing. It's raising me up out of stagnation; seeing from others that all the EA crap is a syndrome, not a one-off caused by me being a sorry excuse for a woman, has been very very helpful.

tryingtoescape · 19/05/2012 20:32

Pink thanks so much, I am about to check inbox.....

EIBD thanks for kind thoughts!

xxx

LemonDrizzled · 19/05/2012 23:28

trying you are doing fine. The motto round here is to detach detach detach! Once you learn what games the FW play you can almost fill a bingo card as you tick them off, and imagine us cheering you on.

I got an email tonight. FWH has had the house valued and it is likely he can afford to buy me out. Also he has decided he doesn't want the weekly meal any more!!! Smile Not sure what he's up to but that suits me just fine.
Things are looking good

ThePinkPussycat · 19/05/2012 23:34

Earth, am going to order some Yeats, thanks Thanks

I've already done some googling, and noticed the difference in formatting in one of the versions I found. This was how it was printed in the original. I imagine?

Her Anxiety, W.B. Yeats

Earth in beauty dressed
Awaits returning spring.
All true love must die,
Alter at the best
Into some lesser thing.
Prove that I lie.

Such body lovers have,
Such exacting breath.
That they touch or sigh.
Every touch they give,
Love is nearer death.
Prove that I lie.

It seems to me to make much more of a difference than you would expect...

EarthInBeautyDressed · 20/05/2012 00:01

Pink, it does, doesn't it? My mistake there I'm afraid... Blush

I didn't reference my book today, (lazy Grin) it's one of a quite a few I know by heart and so I just typed it out as I was saying it. I love that poem, but it really strikes a chord with me at the moment.

Yeats soothes my soul. My copy is falling to bits but it's like an old friend. It is infused with my good and bad days. Mascara stained teardrops and the odd spillage of Pimms. Even a thumbprint or two of chip grease from comfort eating on the beachfront. Smile

arthriticfingers · 20/05/2012 10:12

Great news Lemon!

tryingtoescape · 20/05/2012 10:33

Great to hear that, Lemon! so glad some pressure off your shoulders.

Mine is still not speaking to anyone. I agree completely about detaching and have almost completely in our life together but find it quite chilling and scary when he goes silent and so I feel the need to communicate to make sure he's not going to turn into axe murderer (no previous axe record BTW (apart from hair pulling incident two years ago), I am nervy and freaked out and catastrophising at mo).

Kids disturbed but I am making things as normal as poss. Had a talk with him this morning. He still wants to find himself a room and declare himself bankrupt. It's his way of throwing all his cards in the air and stomping off because he's not "winning". Anyway, I told him he can't go bankrupt as has assets which we are in process of selling, he insisted he could (wants drama). Still not speaking and has now left house, no doubt to look for his room!!! :(

tryingtoescape · 20/05/2012 10:54

Have packed emergency bag with three days' supplies of clothes for me and kids and put our three passports in my bag. Am going to put the trunk where I keep all documents into friend's or neighbour's garage, not sure who yet, he's actually in garden not gone yet. Now I'm going to call DM and finally tell her about this - she'll be so shocked because I've kept it from her. But now I need her support.

arthriticfingers · 20/05/2012 11:07

So, he hasn't gone looking for a room, then :(
Well done for starting to tell people. It is time to get in all out in the open.
If your finances are in a pickle, then get them out in the open, too. As Lemon said, the problems may well be more manageable than your fear is making them.
Talking to people must be better than mulling all this over on your own.
Keep posting

NiniLegsInTheAir · 20/05/2012 20:51

Good news for lemon, escape hope the rest of your day has been ok? EIBD make sure you keep posting on your progress :)

The weekend with our old friend who visited was actually ok, it was really nice to catch up with him and NSDH was behaving (as he usually does when we have guests that aren't my family). The only real downside was the appearance of FIL yesterday - as I said a few days ago, NSDH arranged for him to have DD against my wishes so we could show our friend 'the sights'. As I suspected NSDH just wanted to spend the day in pubs.

FIL arrived and didn't say hello to me. When NSDH stayed with him a few weeks back after the incident, he openly admitted that he hadn't told his Dad everything. So I suspect he just told him we argued and I chucked him out. Either way, FIL was frosty with me so I was even frostier back (and felt a bit sorry for our friend). We went out for the day and came home at about 5pm to find DD hadn't been given any water to drink, had missed a meal and there was an open pooey nappy just left on the floor. I was very Angry. This man has had 2 children FFS!

So then FIL sits in front of the TV and doesn't look like leaving. DD goes to bed and I said to NSDH about getting some dinner in. Next thing I know FIL is staying for dinner too (he obviously wanted to watch the footy) and NSDH ends up paying for his takeaway too. This ALWAYS happens! But if I ever breathe a word I get my head bitten off for saying something against his Dad! Really gets on my tits, quite frankly. The guy is an arsehole. FIL eventually left at 9pm! So most of our last evening with our old friend was spent with him hanging around.

I'm angry but what's the point. I can't say anything, I'm not allowed an opinion. This man has caused so much damage down the years and I still have to tow the 'good little DIL' line. NO MORE!

NiniLegsInTheAir · 20/05/2012 20:56

I sound really spoilt in that last post. There is a lot of history with FIL I'll talk about sometime, but as an example he has NEVER bought us takeaway or a meal or anything, and I've lost count of the times we've had to do it for him. He's reckless with his money, has several foreign holidays a year with various women but never spends more than tenner on anything for his grandaughter or son. He's a painter/decorator and as he has so little money NSDH always wants to use him to do up our house, but he's crap at doing it, has never finished a room he's started for us and we have to PAY him to do it. Angry.

I'll shut up now.

oooohhhhyes · 20/05/2012 21:21

Nini you didn't sound spoilt in the slightest, don't let the buggers get to you and make you think that! It's when things become normalised that it's dangerous. You are being imposed upon and disrespected in your home and that's very wrong indeed. FIL sounds like the recipe that created the NSD part of your H. You are therefore very right indeed to be angry with him and his passive aggression. Instincts are usually right - it's later when we analyse that we understand why we had that reaction but the reaction is spot on. Quite right to say NO MORE!

tryingtoescape · 20/05/2012 21:24

sorry nini ooh was me, I keep this name for here!

NiniLegsInTheAir · 20/05/2012 23:26

Thanks escape :) I've put up with this man for years (the red flag with him was when he tried to ruin our wedding) and I won't indulge his manipulativeness anymore. I've never met my MIL but she's had a lot of blame from NSDH about why he has problems, it's only now that I'm starting to question that maybe she wasn't so bad after all!

Hope you're doing ok btw :)

joruth · 21/05/2012 18:37

Hello, I've been on MN a couple of times about my (D)H...you probably have better things to do but the last one is HERE.

I'm wondering (for those who have got out) I was in a relatively good place and managing well for quite a while (7 months since he left) but seem to have emotionally and physically ground to a halt. I am exhausted and not yet any further forward as (D)H has pulled the plug on our financial agreement...how do you get through every day, working, looking after DCs and everything without just falling apart?

Don't like self pity but I feel in a deep well of it just now

sorry