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I am a 24 yr old adoptee, who has always had trouble with intimacy and relationships with depth.
A little history...I was take from my mother when I was 2/3 and the courts gave her the opportunity to clean up her act. However her failure led to my adoption by my foster family when I was 7. My relationship with my adoptive parents has always had ups and downs. I believe I had un-diagnosed RAD, and often experienced extreme anger, distrust of others, lying and inability to accept affection from others. My parents rarely communicated the words "I love you," yet I know there was love there. I believe they were trying to let me cope on my own without pushing me to feel or demonstrate affection if I didn't want. Long, meaningful and lasting relationships were far and few between. When I was 18, in a need to get out of my parents house and in an effort to "find myself" I married someone I knew less than 6 months. It has had it ups and downs, and there have been a few instances of trust betrayal. Each time I think I have shut down emotionally. My coping mechanism pushes my husband further away.
Well the pot has recently boiled over and we are discussing divorce. He wants me to decide if I want to love him, or can love him - and if I can't he wants a divorce. I had been considering divorce recently too. His reaction is understandable and now that I'm faced with the ultimatum I had been looking for, a deep fear has taken over. Even if I want to be on my own, I'm terrified of never finding anyone else. But if I stayed I'm not sure I can rebuild any form of meaningful intimacy that he desires.
Has anyone experienced this shutting down when trust has been broken? Or does anyone have any thoughts? :confused:
I don't want to be trapped by my adoption, but I know its effects are spilling into my life no matter how hard I try to control it.
Thank you for your reply. We saw a marriage counselor a couple of years ago, and in the process I have realized/come to terms with the fact that my spouse is very much a bipolar, borderline narcissist/sociopath (actually diagnosed in his own therapy session). In our marriage counseling before, he described it as a manipulation "game". I went and spoke to a counselor today who was able to show me that his behaviors and actions are feeding on my own fears. It was very insightful, and in turn made me really consider if I want to work it out. In truth - I'm not 100 percent sure yet, and I'm not sure if I will ever be at 100 percent. I think I need to consider if I can be truly happy if I stay vs leaving.
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