I’ve read a lot over the last year on narcissism and covert vs. overt. I’ve read about Cassandra Phenomenon and got stuck down the trail of thinking my husband was dealing with autism. I’ve looked up all the terms that go with that like Ongoing Traumatic Stress Disorder or Avoidant Dismissive. At this point I don’t know what the hell his problem is. We’ve been in counseling for over two years. He dropped out when the quarantine hit and I was meeting the therapist by myself. He encouraged me to move out of our bedroom and try to emotionally disconnect.

While I’m not sure it’s narcissism or something else, I do notice the patterns of idealize, devalue, but not discard. Maybe the discard phase never comes because I pretty much always cave and take him back. He hasn’t cheated on me in the 22 years we’ve been together. I’ve never caught him doing anything malicious. But — I’ve caught him looking at porn on several occasions. He always feels bad after being caught and vows to never do it again. I honestly have no idea if he still looks at it. I don’t care. I think it’s a violation of my trust, but I don’t care because I’m sick of caring.

Here’s the most recent example — On mother’s day he completely didn’t care about the day at all. Didn’t take the kids to get me a gift. Slept in and made me take care of the dogs. I left the house because I was super pissed off and he called me to complain he had to take my daughter to work. Didn’t even mention anything about mother’s day. So then when I came home, I told him it was BS that he just slept in on mother’s day and had me care for the dogs. It would’ve been nice to just get some extra rest at least. He went into a tatrum about how he does all these things and all I remember is the bad stuff. He basically throws a fit and punishes me for feeling upset. So I just got quiet and left the room. There’s no point in trying to prove myself.

I then texted him the following day and requested one of us move out of the bedroom. I told him I was tired of sharing a room with someone who had no real regard for me. And if he wanted to be roommates, he can get his wish. I’m over it. Well then starts up the love bombing and the “I care about you” and all of that. I told him I needed space, but he continued the love bombing stuff. Then I ordered a bed. He then told me he couldn’t handle the emotional toll it would take on him if I moved out of the bedroom. Really? You can’t handle the emotional toll? Ugh. Every other day of the year, he sleeps on the couch until 3am. He stays up watching movies and doing God knows what. But when I choose to move out of the room then suddenly I’m causing him emotional issues. Give me a break. His solution was that he wanted to move out. I told him it’s his choice. He ended up back tracking and the love bombing crap increased.

Anyway, he kept pushing boundaries and I finally caved. Once again I fell for his pleas and his sexual advances. I mean, yeah–it’s stupid. But I’m deprived on so many levels. I just pretend that I’m loved for 20 minutes and it’s better than having him give me the silent treatment and ignore me. So now today he’s continuing on. We are getting along. I’m waiting for the shoe to fall though. It won’t last and I know it. The main reason I cave is because I know for a few weeks, he’ll be pleasant. Then he’s back to being a dick until I threaten to leave again. So I guess in some ways I play the game too.

The biggest issue for me is losing everything. I’ve been a SAHM for years. I am in school right now. I can’t afford to leave unless I take him to court and get half of everything or more. But that all takes money. I won’t make more money. I’ll just lose more money. I’m looking for a job, but right now the economy sucks. I feel stuck. And everytime I even think of moving out of the room or leaving, I get such bad anxiety. It feels like I might die. I know this might be trauma bonding. I don’t know what it is — but it feels like I am literally going to die. I will just sit and sob and think about all the things I’ll lose: my dogs, my house, my life. I can’t breath. It’s like a PTSD response. But staying with him seems futile.

In a nutshell, my husband ignores me, neglects me, avoids me, and the only time he doesn’t is when I threaten to leave. Then he is suddenly father and husband of the year for a few weeks. Then it’s back to being a douche bag. My kids are adults and teens so I think they could handle the divorce if I got one. I just don’t think I’d be financially stable to support them. And if my husband sees that I’m basically done and I stop caving, I know he’s going to move out. I know he’ll be a bigger jerk than normal too. He’ll probably make it hard for me.

He doesn’t fit the bill of what I read online about narcs. Most of it is really hidden and subtle. Maybe he is autistic or maybe he’s a narc. I don’t know. It’s all so confusing. I just want to start over and be done with this wasted relationship.