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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

Is friend bad news or is it my ADHD?

6 replies

adhdmom · 15/11/2021 04:36

Hi community, I can be socially awkward sometimes but there is a friend who constantly frustrates me and I am wondering if I am reading too much into it or he is gashlighting me.

I would like to clarify that English is my second language, but my friend and I communicate in our native language, so it is not a language barrier or lost in translation.

The incident that made me put a hard stop to meeting was when at the end of our afternoon, heading home, I asked him where he had parked. He stopped with eyes wide open, in shock and asked me if I was alright. With exaggerated gestures, he acted if I needed to be committed to an asylum because apparently he had told me before that he did not being his car. I said that I did not remember him telling me, but in any case, it was easy to just remind me he had not brought it. He then texted me on my way home to tell me again how worried he was about me. That day I thought he was abusive and decided to put distance.

We haven't talked a lot since then, but about 6 months ago he sent me a message saying that he would be moving to my home country by the end of the summer (2021). A couple of weeks ago, I asked him if he was in my home country already or still living here. where he was these days. He told me he was in Mexico visiting for 2 weeks. So I asked again: where do you live? He answered that he did not understand the question. At this point, I feel frustrated and doubting myself. Am I stupid or can't I express myself properly?

Another instance: I told him that I had had a fall out with my best friend and that we had not talked since the day she told me she was pregnant, about 6 months ago. His comment: where is the baby going to be born? here, in your country or in her fiance's country? Hmm hmmm did you get the part where I said we don't talk anymore???? I found his comment so strange. A "I am sorry" or "what happened?" Would have been more appropriate.

Please tell me what you think. Is it my social/conversational skills or this friend is a mindf**k?

OP posts:
MiaFarrowsWheelbarrow · 15/11/2021 04:51

Your "friend" is a knob. Find another friend.

Kuachui · 15/11/2021 05:18

your friend sounds wierd :S i would definitely not be talking to them as they are acting very strange

category12 · 15/11/2021 06:13

Sounds like he's trying to make you feel crazy/incompetent.

Good rule to have is that, if you often come away from interactions with someone feeling confused and wrong-footed, then it's not a good relationship for you.

hazelgrey · 15/11/2021 06:16

He sounds rude impatient and not a very nice friend

You sound normal and lovely

So my advice would be - find another friend

FangsForTheMemory · 15/11/2021 07:57

He sounds awful. I’m always forgetting stuff people have told me. They just tell me it again!

TheFoundations · 15/11/2021 08:02

You are looking for whose fault it is; who to blame, who needs to change.

The fact is, his behaviour makes you feel bad, and so you need to distance yourself from him. There's no right and wrong when it comes to emotional matters, because there are no rules. We just have to make sure we spend time in places/with people/doing things that make us feel good, and stay as far as we can from things that make us feel bad.

Your ADHD will be dealt with sensitively by those who love you. If you have a situation of 'This problem is your fault because of your ADHD', that's a representation of an unhealthy relationship. A healthy relationship will feel more like 'This is triggering your ADHD symptoms, isn't it... shall we go do something else instead?'

Find people to be around who accommodate you and love you and accept you just as you are. And, even more importantly, do the same for yourself. No more 'Perhaps I'm to blame because I have ADHD' - that's self-disrespect. Try for more of a 'I accept that ADHD makes certain things difficult, so I'm going to care for myself by pulling back from those things, and do things that trouble me less.'

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