Relationship: Framed as a danger, then broken up with

So I recently met a girl in my accommodation. She seems to have taken an instant liking to me. I didn't notice her at first at all. 

Eventually we went out on a date (both of us explicitly said that it was a date). She guessed I had autism and said she had autism, too. I felt safe with her because of this. 

When she asked about my dad, I said his name with anger. What followed was poorly-disguised pressure to try and get me to tell her what happened. By this point, this girl had very loudly let loose that she was 'into' my smile and hair and was being very, very sweet to me and so I felt safe telling her: that my dad was very abusive in my childhood. The only thing I didn't like about her behaviour up until this point is her alarming distrust of my ancestors (she's Polish and my grandfather served in the Soviet Army). 

So, I told her my father was abusive. 

Immediately, she began asking very upsetting and personal questions like 'Did you ever have any positive experiences in your life?' with an obvious undertone. 

The next morning led to a day full of agony for me. She loudly announced that she was taking back her decision to continue dating and that she would be, in other words, judging my behaviour and deciding if I was worth dating. 

The more serious wound was her implication that I was dangerous. She directly, to my face, said 'People who are abused become abusive'. 

I had to deal with this for the whole day. She progressively wound herself up into a massive nervous breakdown and began crying in front of me. I tried to comfort her (no matter how much it hurt to be judged like this). Her brother then called both of us- I already disliked him because my date had already said that her distrust of my ancestors was because of him. 

The first thing he asked me was 'So, your grandfather served in the Soviet Military...anything against Poland?". 

The thing about me is that saying something like that to me, especially when I'm with a broken heart, is probably the worst thing you could say to me. You can insult me all you like, call me any name you like, but leave him out of it. I never forgave her brother for that, no matter how hard I tried. 

Closer to the evening, my date began asking me if I'd block her if she said no. She wound herself up to tears again and began saying 'I'm not saying no! I'm still here!'. 

I was crying, too. The sight of how her lips moved when she was talking drove me to tears for some reason. 

The next month was awful for me. I felt ridiculously upset about being treated as a threat and dangerous. But she instructed me not to talk about it and said 'talking about it will make me decide longer' and all that. The day after I held her in my arms for 7 hours as she broke my heart, she said my eye movements didn't match my words, and accused me of being dishonest in saying so. 

She at one point said she didn't want me to- ever again- ask her things like 'When did you first dream of me?' (Even though she started that conversation first). I agreed. 

On the last day of our relationship, she suddenly began interrogating me. Some of the things she asked were:

'Why do you like me? You barely know me'

'How do you know you like me?'

The exact things she asked me not to ask her. I thought this undid her 'rule'. Then she accused me of communication differences and made a huge mess out of it, attaching herself to almost any word I said which implied I felt something for her and demanding explanations. 

I was extremely hurt (and also scared because of rapidly approaching interviews and flights), and asked her 'How much did I push you away?'. 

She exploded. After writing me messages saying she was 'very disappointed in me' and claiming she was 'extremely nice', she began demanding space. I gave it to her. 

She suddenly came back when she got scared about something else and wanted reassurance. When she calmed down she demanded space again. 

She broke up with me that evening, accusing me of dishonesty and for asking 'How much did I push you away?' when I allegedly promised not to (and I never promised that). 

Very soon, I'll be back in university and she lives on the floor below. If I'm honest, I don't want to see her at least until this stops hurting me (she on the contrary has trouble letting me go, it seems). 

So, I got broken up with again. 

More seriously, I am genuinely afraid now that I am a danger to everyone around me because of my abuse history. I don't want to turn into a monster, but her words and suspicion terrified me. 

Parents
  • she began asking very upsetting and personal questions like 'Did you ever have any positive experiences in your life?' with an obvious undertone. 

    The way I read that situation is that you started out with an incredibly negative point when she was probably hoping you were a positive person who would bring happiness and hope into the relationship. It would explain why she pushed for you to find a positive track.

    Most people do not start a relationship talking about such heavy and negative things, even when asked - they will save these revalations until there is more trust between the two parties as it is such a difficult thing to discuss and, as you found out, often triggers other people.

    I'm not saying this as judgement but as explanation - we have all inadvertantly started an avalanche of a conversation at some time or another so it helps to reflect on why it went off the rails and how people are expected to behave (you don't have to behave that way but it helps to understand the consequences).

    I suspect things cascaded on both sides with you both being autistic and the damage control responses caused further issues. When the brother got involved he will naturally side with his sister and paint anyone who caused her to be upset to be a bad person - this is normal behaviour for siblings and friends where they defend their person regardless of whether they are right or wrong.

    I am genuinely afraid now that I am a danger to everyone around me because of my abuse history.

    I cannot offer advice but I can say what I would do in your situation. I would not discuss my abuse with anyone other than my therapist - it is such a difficult subject for others to respond to and your response to their response can lead down paths that are hard to deal with as you discovered.

    My response to her would be to just treat her like someone you know in passing, say hello but do not get into a conversation with her. If you find she is talking about your abuse behind your back then ask the management of the accommodation to speak to her as she is discussing your abuse and this is not acceptable to share. Being an autist she may not realise and I do not recommend direct confrontation but she needs to know there are consequences.

    As for how you feel about it - share this with your therapist (get one if you don't have one) and let them help you process it and develop your own, healthy responses.

    That is my opinion for what it is worth.

Reply
  • she began asking very upsetting and personal questions like 'Did you ever have any positive experiences in your life?' with an obvious undertone. 

    The way I read that situation is that you started out with an incredibly negative point when she was probably hoping you were a positive person who would bring happiness and hope into the relationship. It would explain why she pushed for you to find a positive track.

    Most people do not start a relationship talking about such heavy and negative things, even when asked - they will save these revalations until there is more trust between the two parties as it is such a difficult thing to discuss and, as you found out, often triggers other people.

    I'm not saying this as judgement but as explanation - we have all inadvertantly started an avalanche of a conversation at some time or another so it helps to reflect on why it went off the rails and how people are expected to behave (you don't have to behave that way but it helps to understand the consequences).

    I suspect things cascaded on both sides with you both being autistic and the damage control responses caused further issues. When the brother got involved he will naturally side with his sister and paint anyone who caused her to be upset to be a bad person - this is normal behaviour for siblings and friends where they defend their person regardless of whether they are right or wrong.

    I am genuinely afraid now that I am a danger to everyone around me because of my abuse history.

    I cannot offer advice but I can say what I would do in your situation. I would not discuss my abuse with anyone other than my therapist - it is such a difficult subject for others to respond to and your response to their response can lead down paths that are hard to deal with as you discovered.

    My response to her would be to just treat her like someone you know in passing, say hello but do not get into a conversation with her. If you find she is talking about your abuse behind your back then ask the management of the accommodation to speak to her as she is discussing your abuse and this is not acceptable to share. Being an autist she may not realise and I do not recommend direct confrontation but she needs to know there are consequences.

    As for how you feel about it - share this with your therapist (get one if you don't have one) and let them help you process it and develop your own, healthy responses.

    That is my opinion for what it is worth.

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