@P12 He wasn't born with ptsd. There was a defining event. A trauma which, 15 years later, he cannot put behind him.
Everything you've said applies to his autism and, to a degree, to the bipolar disorder which may or may not have been exacerbated by drug use.
I say irrepairably damaged because I believe we are never going to get past what happened to him then. His autism prevents him from letting go of any past injustice and when manic he will dwell on events that happened 20, 30 or 40 years ago and plan his revenge. Plans which are thankfully never brought to fruition.
The thing is, the "injustice" is often something that a neurotypical (like me) wouldn't even notice. Two years ago the new Principal stood up to speak at a parent assembly and despite having been introduced by the Deputy didn't formally introduce herself to her audience. That very topic was raised again this morning and made me late for work as he'd received an email from the school and the unprofessionalism of the Principal once again became his focus.
I left him today ranting about the high school and making notes for the phone calls of complaint he plans to make to them later this morning; for the third day in a row. Most of the points he makes are valid but it's the way he tackles solving them that finds the school, his ex, the body corporate chairman or medical receptionist calling security, the police or an ambulance depending on the nature of his threats.
I have no problem with his logic taking a different path to mine, or to most, but I joined this forum as a carer because he does live with several complex mental health issues and I needed more insight and support. Here I've been able to connect with others who's partners behave similarly to mine and also to others who live like he. I can ask them questions and gain insight that I cannot ask him for fear of triggering another attack.
Maybe "strange" was the wrong word. Maybe "enigmatic" in that no matter what I do and how much I modify my behaviour I cannot ever second guess what his reactions will be. The goal posts continually shift. Things are much better than they were six months ago since his new psychologist pointed out just how autistic he was. I now have more appropriate tools in my kit than when I thought I was just dealing with mental illness. ASD I don't see as a illness, just a-typical thought processes and that I can deal with.
However, his other conditions mean that his responses to things that trigger the ASD can be very volatile. At 12:30 this morning I got out of bed to use the bathroom. At 1:15am he snapped on the lights and woke me to berrate me for being so inconsiderate as to wake him in the night and prevent him from getting back to sleep. By 1:45 his temper was abating as I promised, over and over, never to do that again. Eventually he forgave me and I was permitted to fall back to sleep while he frantically made notes in the "good ideas book" about how he would seek revenge on his body corporate managers.
Tonight I will have to ask if this means that I cannot get out of bed at all, or just not come back. If the former then I will have to sleep on the couch permanently because there is no way, at my age, I can go all night without the bathroom. He will tell me that everything is fine and that I am to sleep in my own bed. I will believe him. The rules will change again the next time I transgress. I have a spare room, but at least 3 nights a week it is occupied by his sons.
Conversely, he wakes me up during the night repeatedly. He eats all night. He has boxes and packets of all sorts of snacks lined up down the middle of the bed and I am constantly disturbed by the popping of lids and the rustling of packaging. He dozes while doing this so oft times he will wake himself up choking on whatever was in his mouth when he fell asleep. Once awake, snap crackle pop and we're off again and this pattern will repeat for hours. Usually by about 2am it settles down and I get about 3 hours unbroken sleep before I get up for work. Unless he can't find his hanky or his beanie and then I'm woken again with all lights blazing to help him look for it.
I fall asleep at my desk most afternoons. He has the luxury of being able to nap for hours during the day if he needs to.
His hipocrasy used to bother me much more but now I understand that his thought processes are very different from mine and that he isn't mentally capable of much empathy I have learnt to live with it.
You know what? I'm still going with "strange" because I don't see it as a pejorative word. It means "different from the ordinary" and he is. We are all strange is some ways, I hope, because if we were all ordinary there would no human achievement.
