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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

Am I being over sensitive?

113 replies

HittyPitty · 24/05/2020 22:45

Hello, I’ve namechanged so as not to link to other things I’ve posted. I’ve been feeling more and more upset by my husband and think the lockdown has intensified things. I’m unsure if I’m being over sensitive or whether he’s using that label to give me no way to assert myself.

He’s a very charismatic person, he does public speaking and is very opinionated. Since we had our son to me he’s become obsessive about certain things. I’m a SAHM and it was bad when he was working but with him being in the house all the time I feel like a member of staff.

He questions me about what our son has eaten, he’s 3 and very picky but I find not making a bit deal of it is the best approach. As an example yesterday he got mad because I gave him a comic at breakfast time rather than saving it for later in the day to use as a bribe or distraction. He questioned the way I’d cut some meat up saying I should have left it in a big piece. I’d cut it up as the day before my son had asked me to cut it up. He also tried to grab the plate to remove the ketchup I’d put on it, despite it being him who introduced it. He said it was too much and it wasn’t good enough. His tone is very blunt and like an employer.

He ignores me when I speak if he’s watching TV or if our son is with us. It is true I talk too much and I’ve tried to talk less in the evening, but don’t understand why he can’t converse with me when we’re all together. I hate it as he showers our son with affection but doesn’t answer me so I feel excluded.

He won’t back me up and tells our son yes when I’ve said no, or else laughs and says he won’t get involved. He has started carrying him around so now he won’t walk anywhere, whereas he was enjoying walks before.

He keeps on about how he’s the sole bread winner, which is true, but it seems like it’s being used to imply I’m not up to scratch and to justify anything.

If I ever assert myself for example get cross about his tone of voice or the way he talks to me he just say it’s me who is at fault and I have to accept him for who he is. If I say the same he just finds fault with me and says he’s not putting up with it.

Tonight he has said I’m an angry person with a chip on my shoulder and I’m to change other wise he will leave me. He says everything is in my head, I’m paranoid and there is nothing wrong with his tone. He often barks out a list of what has to change about me and says I need therapy. I did see a counsellor who thought he sounded emotionally abusive from what I’ve said.

I’m beginning to feel very frozen over emotionally and can’t feel any happy emotions very often.

My reasoning is clouded and I get confused when he has these rants so just wanted to share really as if I told anyone I know they would never believe me as he’s so friendly.

OP posts:
Ceriane · 25/05/2020 13:18

He sounds awful. Leave him!

OhioOhioOhio · 25/05/2020 14:38

That's what they do op. When they find out you know what they arw like they turn your criticism on you. Lundy Bancroft says the worst of them accuse you of abuse. That's what mine did.

Eckhart · 25/05/2020 14:51

I hope you're ok today. I just wanted to say, narcissists are often very popular, kind, empathic, generous to those they are not abusing. And the same to those they abuse, when they are not in the middle of abusing them. It's extremely disorienting, and, as their victim, it leaves you feeling that you have nobody on your side, because... well, who would even believe you?

When I was in this situation, I had to keep reminding myself of how unkind my abuser was capable of being, so that I didn't get sucked back in by the niceness (it's called hoovering) I held onto one thing: my narcissist watching me, head shaking slowly, and saying, judgementally, 'Weird, weird, weird...', because I was curled up in a corner, crying.

My friends DID believe me when I told them, and were equally as shocked as me that someone so lovely could be so cruel. You're not on your own, OP. I hope you've got support in real life, but even if you don't, there's loads of people here who understand. Your description of him is a precise definition of a narcissist. Read lots. It will fortify and validate you, and you'll need that. You must be very tired emotionally.

RandomMess · 25/05/2020 15:03

Do you have any family you stay with if you leave?

If he senses you are gaining resolve he may actually get worse.

The sooner you leave the better.

Allinadaystwerk · 25/05/2020 16:12

I think op is taking a break but reading some of the responses I wonder whether a recognising/surviving a narcissist thread would be good for people who want to explore their situation but not necessarily be the focus of the thread? Just a thought...

HittyPitty · 25/05/2020 19:25

Hi everyone thank you for the replies, it is so helpful. I have downloaded living with the dominator and really appreciate all the excellent advice. Something Eckhart said about being called weird when she was crying resonated with me. I was really crying once and my husband just looked at me and said oh my God no one cries these days. Then walked away.

Today he has been perfectly normal apart from trying to make our son eat some food he didn’t want. I ate it when he wasn’t looking. He’s just been on the phone to a family member listening to them and advising them. I could hear as it was on speakerphone and I thought if that was me he wouldn’t be listening!

I think Twerk’s idea of a separate thread was really good as this so obviously affects lots of people. I think for me I still think I’m to blame. I had mental health problems as a young person and he sometimes alludes to this being all in my head and due to my mental health, although I’ve not had any reoccurrence for years despite quite a few traumas. I can be over sensitive and my mum will often say the same so he uses this to make it seem like I have problems and need therapy.

Thank you to all of you for the tips about how to react to him at the moment, it’s really helpful. I noticed today my main worry was that he would leave me, which seems crazy, as most people would be thinking the opposite.

I would love to get back to feeling all my emotions, I feel all blocked and can’t feel love! It scares me and then I wonder if I’m someone lacking empathy. I can see myself diminishing and all my thoughts whirring a lot over the last few months and so want to start by doing more for myself like eating better. Thank you for being so kind and sorry so many if you have experienced this.

OP posts:
Eckhart · 25/05/2020 19:40

In the nicest possible way, you're quite textbook yourself. What I mean is, all your internal responses to him, all the emotions he triggers in you, are all totally normal and, oddly, healthy reactions to the way he's treating you. It's normal to shut off when someone you love keeps hurting you - it's a way to protect yourself. It's really normal to worry that he will leave you - you have what's called a trauma bond.

But you've spotted it now, and once you learn about the manipulative tactics narcissists use, you'll respond differently. Monsters aren't so scary when you can see the mechanisms inside. The fact that you've spotted it means your inner self is clamouring to be let free again, and you're listening to your own needs. You've already taken a huge step forward by doing that.

One other thing; if he knows you've realised, he'll use it to manipulate you more. It's best to make all your plans to leave before he has any inkling that anything has changed, and the first thing he knows about it is when you open the door to walk out on him. This is your own, healthy, private mission, probably the first important thing you've had all to yourself for a while. Talk to your friends, who you trust, but don't let him in on it.

OhioOhioOhio · 25/05/2020 20:03

Eckhart

What an excellent post. I wish I'd done that. I was so loyal to my desire to be a 'good wife' and serve my marriage well. I was fair every step of the way. These bastards don't do fair. They use anything they can to hurt you. Please don't let him know you've rumbled him.

HittyPitty · 25/05/2020 20:47

Thank you Eckhart for such an eloquent post and advice, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head and it all makes perfect sense. Thank you as well to the others who have replied like Ohio, Gutterton and Twerk. I think I have a good starting point and reading to do and feel better equipped. Love to you all.

OP posts:
Dollyrocket · 25/05/2020 20:54

Good luck OP Flowers

I noticed you mentioned your mother and how she’s has referred to you as ‘over-sensitive’ - do you have a similar relationship with her?

HittyPitty · 25/05/2020 21:28

Well my mum is a very kind person and would do anything for anyone but was probably a bit over involved with decisions as I got older. So I sometimes felt a bit stifled and invalidated. Although with my mum she wasn’t coming from a bad place, more circumstance as she was a single mum back in the days when it was still stigmatised.

OP posts:
Patsypie · 25/05/2020 21:49

He sounds abusive and vile. I'd seriously consider leaving him.

Eckhart · 25/05/2020 21:54

Invalidation is the key to it. If you've been raised by someone who invalidated you, regardless of their intention, that paves the way for someone like your husband to come in. He will have spotted early on that you are experienced at being invalidated, and respond to it by questioning yourself rather than by poking the invalidator in the eye (or something. You get what I mean)

The day I started validating myself, regardless of what others said, was amazing. Full change of mindset and outlook as the penny dropped. It's well worth pursuing. And once you've got it, it stays, and you rule your own world. You'll never go back.

OhioOhioOhio · 25/05/2020 22:14

Eckhart

Can you please give an example? I'd like to know more what you mean.

Also op. I had a very happy childhood. I simply didn't know that people of such poison existed.

GilbertMarkham · 25/05/2020 22:29

I think when someone who is so popular with other people says horrible things you end up believing them and then coming across like a miserable person.

They don't know him, they're not in a relationship with him, they don't live with him.

Noone really knows anyone they don't have a personal long-term relationship with them (esp if the abuser - and he is one - doesnt need anything, as such, from the other person.

You're not sensitive, you're not wrong, you're not unreasonable ... Not one person reading examples of his behaviour here wouldn't feel the same. If he behaved 1% of how he had to you to me, tbh I'd have screamed my head off at him by now - at the very least. There would constant flights and clashes ... It's not you.

Eckhart · 25/05/2020 22:32

An example of being invalidated by someone with good intentions might be if you feel really worried about something, and you go to your mum to talk, and she says 'Never mind dear. Here have a piece of cake', and then changes the subject. This is how we learn that things like 'I'm worried about x or y' aren't really worth talking about, and that our feelings are just a bit silly/we're being oversensitive.

Then when we meet an abuser, they'll try little invalidations to start with. Ones you don't notice. Ones made like jokes. 'Ha! You've never been good at cooking meat, dear, have you! This is very dry again!', all with a good humoured laugh, so you can't tell if you're being criticised or not. You can either say 'Cook your own sausage next time, you ungrateful pig' (then the abuser leaves you) or you say your feelings are hurt, and you get told you're too sensitive/you can't take a joke/what's wrong with you/you're mentally ill/you twist everything to make me look like shit yadda yadda abuser talk ad nauseaum.

Validating yourself means knowing full well that the sausage was just fine, and there ain't nobody messin' with your confidence, cos you know what you know, and you trust yourself and your instincts.

I'm not sure what you wanted an example of, so I did everything.

I was horrified to discover that such people existed too. They're so cruel. And weirdly, they're all pretty much the same. Like they all learned it from the same textbook, by rote. Psychopaths/narcissists are like another species. Looks like a human, sounds like a human, but is a whole other animal.

OhioOhioOhio · 25/05/2020 22:39

Thanks Eckhart

That is really helpful. Thank you again. My xh conned the lawyers and legal system. He excels at what he does. And you are right it is true, they are like carbon copies of utter bastards. But I never believed him when he tried to move the issue by being mean. I thought that he was struggling. Sorry, I'm not making much sense. When he said I was crap I didn't believe him. I didn't want to end my marriage because I thought he wa reacting to a hard time rather than being a pig.

Eckhart · 25/05/2020 22:47

Yes, they defer responsibility - nothing is ever their fault, and if they've caused something bad to happen, they'll be able to offer a really valid sounding reason.

They con everybody. Mine had a trick of treating me wonderfully whilst we were out amongst friends. I'd be ecstatic and think our honeymoon period was back. Everybody thought we were the happiest couple in the world. Then, the second we were in the car to drive home, I'd be met with the glare, and be told 'That's another evening you've ruined, then, by being so miserable'

It's most unsettling.

Dillo10 · 25/05/2020 22:49

Just want to say - the thought of you trying to talk less in the evening is so horrible - you deserve to be with someone who wants to hear every little thing you have to say! Xxx

Allinadaystwerk · 25/05/2020 22:50

What never ceases to amaze me is how similar their behaviours are. Absolutely typical. You think maybe my circumstance is different to those others. Surely I am not being abused. I am strong and intelligent! But then you hear other peoples story and you realise and recognise the exact same text book behaviour. What a crock of shit!

Craftycorvid · 25/05/2020 22:55

Please don’t feel you have to wait for lockdown to end in order to have some counselling. Many therapists are working on-line or on the phone if you have somewhere private at home to talk? It sounds like the support of a therapist might help until you can take steps to get free of this relationship.

Allinadaystwerk · 25/05/2020 22:57

My ex could look at me in a room full of people and I would instantly stop talking. My heart would be pounding in my chest and I would feel terrified. I would be racking my brains to figure out what I had done wrong so I could think of a good reason to explain. Often I would resort to just saying I know I'm sorry I forgot myself. I should have just stayed quiet. I mean really who enjoys seeing a person reduces to that?
Twisted as hell

Eckhart · 25/05/2020 22:57

That's what makes me think they're a different species Allinadaystwerk

They don't all go to a school to learn this stuff, but somehow they just know how to do it. Like birds know to make a nest and baby turtles know to run to the sea. It must be instinct. Mine was years ago and I'm well free of that relationship now, but I'm still fascinated by the behaviour patterns.

Allinadaystwerk · 25/05/2020 22:59

I have to say my online therapy is invaluable and worth every penny. I have become so much stronger because of it.

Allinadaystwerk · 25/05/2020 23:02

@eckhart agreed it's mind blowing but I too am fascinated by the psychologically behind it. You do have an excellent way of explaining the reality though kudos to you. Really think you should start a thread on it. Could be helpful to so many of us who are on the journey out from being with or are still in the hell