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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

Think I’m having a nervous breakdown

11 replies

Lostanddown · 08/11/2024 15:23

I don’t even know who I am anymore.
I’m even scared to write this post. Dunno if I’m being gaslit or if I’m just a hopeless case.
Been with DH for many years and we have three kids all at uni or college, not at home.
On the face of it, we have the perfect life. DH is a good guy but, there have been emotional connection issues over the years. Even before our wedding I almost called it off. Red flags abounded but, coz of my upbringing and insecure attachment, I went on with it and it was great to begin with. But after the birth of our last child I was feeling like I always came bottom of the list.
We’ve gotten through stuff but the last few years have been tough.
Our sex life is non existent. I’ve been difficult to live with coz of menopause. Or have I? Is it all in my head. Is it me just desperate for some sort of emotional connection that’s making me more needy. I have seen a counsellor, we’ve done couples counselling but now it’s gotten to the stage where he’s saying that he’s fed up looking back and wants to look forward and isn’t prepared to do anything more regarding self help. I feel like I’ve done all the emotional lifting but now feel like there is nothing left. I probably do need to end it but I’m in such a state I’m terrified. This is my second marriage. I’m just lost and when I reach out for hugs it’s like we just don’t know how to or there is just no connection. Have I made it this way. Have I destroyed the essence of me. I did attract the attentions of another bloke but despite the mutual attraction we remained friends, nothing else. But it was a stark reminder of what’s missing in my marriage. However I don’t trust myself ever to be in another relationship as I fear rejection so much.
DH just seems cold and ambivalent and just getting on with his life. I want to go to sleep and not wake up at times.
I know if I end it, I’ll be seen as the bad one, I’ve never felt so low.
If you’ve read this far Thankyou.

OP posts:
heldinadream · 08/11/2024 15:28

Sweetheart. I'm so sorry. Please hang in there. You matter.
Relationships are hard. Really hard, hardest thing in the world and we learn all about them when we're tiny and don't understand what it is we're learning until it's all ingrained in our patterns and then we try and unlearn but that's bloody hard work.
Be kind to yourself, please. Are you having any real life support? Friends, family, your own therapy?

MyEarringsAreGreen · 08/11/2024 15:34

Lots of couples split when the nest becomes empty, it's not that unusual. People realise they have nothing in common once the kids are gone and they don't have that focus. You deserve to be loved, desired and emotionally connected to your life partner. I couldn't imagine being with my partner if we weren't connected like that.

Lostanddown · 08/11/2024 15:36

I see a counsellor from time to time. I thought everything seemed ok but I kinda drove him out the house a bit saying I needed space then missed him.
Have you ever seen the video about the still face experiment where the baby gets upset at the lack of interaction from a parent?
It’s like that. He says he can’t change and I’m desperate. Things get tense and I reach out to connect and talk but the response is cold. He did show some emotion when he thought I was sending out the wrong signals to the chap who was interested in me but I realise I was just craving attention, any attention.
i know he cares but it just doesn’t show in a way where we can connect. Our last convo was basically I need to accept or change or we separate.
I can barely function today

OP posts:
Notanotherdick · 08/11/2024 16:00

This sounds like a really difficult time you are going through, OP. You sound exhausted, upset and confused about what to do. You don't need to be making any immediate decisions right this second, so give yourself time to work out how you feel. Can you go away anywhere for a night? That used to help give me perspective, or just a break from some of the pressures at home with my ex husband. Have you heard of Ester Perel? She does amazing podcasts on relationships which have helped me massively. It sounds like you are not getting your needs met and are facing up to it. I'd be proud of myself for recognising that my needs counts and trying to find a way to have them met. You may have chosen your husband for his qualities before you had processed your own experiences in early life, and perhaps what seemed good for you in a partner back then has changed a lot now and your husband is unable to catch up. It's okay to not want to please anyone at your expense. Can you do anything kind for yourself tonight to self soothe and comeback to the bigger questions later?

Lostanddown · 08/11/2024 16:12

My counsellor recommended Esther Perel. I shall try to watch.
we do have lots in common hobbies wise. But the emotional connection has never been there. He seems able to accept this meanwhile I’m just dying. I do go away for space and recently had a short break for myself. It did recharge me but now I feel dead again. I am going out tonight just to make me do something. I feel guilty for doing so but I have to

OP posts:
Notanotherdick · 08/11/2024 16:15

I listen to her on Spotify. So wise. What do you mean you feel guilty?

Lostanddown · 08/11/2024 16:20

Like I should stay at home coz I feel sorry for him being home alone. This is something I’ve been trying to overcome. He doesn’t even mind. He always says do what I want. But I still feel guilty. Have tried thinking it’s linked to the traditional upbringing I had and my mother’s comments over the years about ‘me being chucked out if I don’t have his dinner ready’ and similar conditioning comments.
This time last week I felt ok. I’ve gone back on HRT to try to get a decent nights sleep so it may be making me feel worse or I’m just in denial and struggling to cope

OP posts:
Gonksarecooler · 08/11/2024 17:05

Does he have ASD because what you are describing sounds to me exactly like Cassandra Syndrome which many women married to men with ASD end up with.

The lack of reciprocated emotional empathy and interaction absolutely destroys you. This is despite the fact that they are not intentionally withholding it from you - they don’t give it because they quite simply, don’t have the ability to do so and also do not have the ability to recognise that it is a fundamental need for other people. You can explain to them again and again, but they just don’t have the capacity to comprehend how absolutely essential those emotional interactions are to our well being and mental health. The concept is so alien to them that they will spend their time explaining to you that you are wrong for needing the interactions and they genuinely seem to believe that we are the ones being unreasonable because they are wired so differently to us.

You feel like you are going mad, and all along he calmly watches you with a blank face as you act in more and more extreme ways, because you are so desperate for some tiny bit of emotional interaction from him, that you will do almost anything to get it.

It becomes almost a form of madness and outsiders looking in think there is something wrong with you and that you are being insane and unreasonable but they are not in it with you and they haven’t lived the death of a thousand cuts with you each and every time you did not get the emotional response and feedback that any human being craves and needs in order to function, so they do not have any idea at all of the place of incredible pain that you are acting from.

Please do read up on it and see if you think it fits your situation and if it does, then you will see that you are not going mad and that many, many women end up in this same situation.

I am sorry, there isn’t a solution or a fix for it.

However, being able to recognise what is actually going on does at least allow you to see that your reaction and behaviour is perfectly normal considering the situation you are in and have been in for a long time.

Few counsellors or marriage guidance people are aware or understanding of it. Unfortunately marriage counselling with someone who doesn’t know about Cassandra Syndrome and doesn’t take it into account, is not helpful and is often in fact destructive to the non-ASD partner. Everything they say and all the exercises etc do not work in this dynamic and just leave you feeling more and more of a failure and like you are the cause of all the problem.

Many women have tried it and unfortunately failed. Marriage counselling will only work if you have it with a counsellor who understands the specific dynamics of this type of relationship and understands Cassandra syndrome and the damage that it has caused to your emotional and metal health over the years.

There is support out there in the form of online support groups (Facebook etc) from other women in the same situation. It helps to know you are not alone and to see that we all struggle and have the same reaction to being put into this situation. It doesn’t fix the issues but it does help, hugely, to understand what is going on and give you perspective on the situation and helps you decide if you want to carry on with the relationship anymore.

Your pain is so clear from your post, I want you to know that I do understand how you feel, I’ve been there and it has nearly destroyed me too. Reading about it and finding out about it and the support from other women is the only thing that has kept me going. You are not alone, you are not going mad, please know that.

Lostanddown · 08/11/2024 18:28

@Gonksarecooler
oh my. You are not the first to suggest he has Asd or some spectrum thing. My own counsellor suggested it from my description and my friend who has adhd and autism and has become an advocate for it said she thought the same from the moment she met him.
I read something recently that touched a nerve. It was how the wife left but loses twice because folk don’t understand why she left a good man.
Thankyou for your post. It has helped me enormously just reading it and I am so grateful.

OP posts:
Lostanddown · 09/11/2024 15:49

This was the article I’d read

www.goodtherapy.org/blog/married-with-undiagnosed-autism-why-women-who-leave-lose-twice-0420164/amp/

OP posts:
anareen · 09/11/2024 15:55

It doesn't sound like it is you at all. You are self reflecting and trying to problem solve. He is refusing any responsibility. You deserve so much better. My heart breaks for you.

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