Wednesday, August 17, 2011

What to do when your husband disrespects you and disses you, especially in front of friends and relatives?

I'm writing this because I'm really depressed and need help. We've been married since last April and since the beginning of our marriage he has frequently disrespected and embarred me in front of other people, especially his family and friends. And each time I kept my sadness and anger inside of me while he talked bad about me in order to avoid making a scene. I tried to let it go the first few times he disrespected me and was rude to me; and I repeated told him in private it hurts me when he shows me no dignity, especially in front of his family. But he has never really changed his behavior. For example, when I was at his parents’ home and his mom gave us an album of old family pics, he would point to himself on each of his pics and ask each and every time "who's this?" as if I was a small child while his brother was in the same room listening. I felt very uncomfortable. He has belittled me in many other ways. He rarely says anything decent about me in front of his friends and relatives. I also noticed that his behavior gets worse when he is with male relatives and friends. When he does say nice things to me, he usually says them when we're alone together. And oftentimes when we have a fight or issue, he will call and complain to my parents and distort the truth to make him look like an angel and make me look the opposite. I keep telling him if there is an issue we need to communicate and work it out together, and calling my parents and not being fully truthful will not solve anything, but make things worse. He has done this multiple times. Unfortunately my parents tend to side with him and always tell me to look after him and do what he says so he will not be unhappy. They and my relatives pressured me to marry him and I did so because I thought he was a nice good guy. Also I glad to move out from my parents home because they were very controlling (I wanted to do so for a long time but did not have the financial means). But I never thought that my husband would abuse me both in public and in private. He was not really like this before we got married. Looking back, there was a red flag when I asked him why he talked too much about off-topic things with a banquet representative and he immediately got mad and did not want to talk to me the rest of the day. The next day when he came over he seemed not mad at all, so I let it go as an isolated incident. Since we have been married I had to deal with his many mood swings. When he gets mad, like when he doesn't get his way or if the apartment is not perfectly spotless clean, he often threatens divorce or leaving me. He also says things like "I will just take care of myself." On top of that, we not in a great financial position. He doesn't make that much and both him and I have debt to pay off (I have student loans). We argue over money issues and he makes me feel guilty if I want to buy just a single item for myself, accusing me of not "feeling with him." He also accuses me of being cheap and "money-lover" because I have some cash saved (not a whole lot) which I choose to save as a kind of emergency fund. I want to get a good job because I feel like if I keep being just a housewife, he will keep abusing the power in the relationship since he pays the bills. And even if I get a job, I will likely not make enough to be financially independent. I'm very depressed because of the way he treats me. I know I'm not perfect and have raised my voice due to anger, but so has he. But I at least try to show him some respect when we're with other people. Just recently we were out with a couple of neighbor friends and he kept talking badly about me and complained about the things I did that he did not like. I was shocked, hurt, angry, sad, and embarred at the same time as he was talking about personal details about me and what we fight about. He made us look like an unhappy couple who does not really love each other. And he also said how others may think I am a calm, sweet girl but I'm really not like that and that I can throw a tantrum. I felt humiliated by what he said and it ruined the rest of the evening for everyone as I did not want to talk or engage in the conversation any more. And ppl could tell I was upset. I regularly contemplate on whether or not this marriage is going to last. He keeps threatening me that he will divorce and he says things like it doesn't seem like we are not moving forward and puts all the blame on me. He and I have slept in different rooms multiple times. He also believes is his right and I must submit to his wishes every time, even if I am sleepy or not in the mood. Because I try to make the marriage work, I try my best to please him and make him happy, but he is not easy to please at times and extremely moody.

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