this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2026
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TW domestics story
I had an ex that I had to walk on eggshells around like this.
If I accidentally talked about outer space, or spirituality, or anything interesting like that, it would trigger a dangerous panic attack. Like, "hide the knives", kind of existential dread. Grab the benzo's and the day is ruined.
After a while, sometimes all it would take is them seeing me reading quietly on the couch to trigger it, because they knew what I was reading about. Obviously it didn't last long after that lol.
Some people just cannot handle thinking about certain things, and it's very strange to me. Like real life self-inflicted thought crimes.
Been with someone like that. I honestly think they were a narcissist, for other reasons, and I think realizing they didn't actually matter really bothered them. The universe doesn't revolve around anyone and people shit themselves about it.
I personally can't empathize with why. Like get over yourself a little
That… actually kind of checks out. They got really really really mad when I said the n- word (no). Also, when I talked to them, sometimes they would do this verbal aikido thing. Suddenly the conversation becomes weird and confusing, and I'm somehow the one at fault. I'm not sure if that's a diagnosis, though.
Sounds pretty cluster B to me. I discourage armchair diagnoses, but learning about these personality types and how to handle them is very helpful as they're everywhere.
There's a book, "Stop Walking on Eggshells", that addresses much of it.
It should be taught in schools. If I had been told about narcissists when my brain was still forming I could have avoided at least some of the damage they did to me later. It took over 15 years to undo. That kind of damage is crucial to avoid in children and young adults.
Preach, shit's fucked that it takes aging out alive, and finding a shrink yourself to actually usually give you enough of a lever to get away from those crappy situations in childhoods.
Just looked that up. Narcissistic-Vulnerable or maybe Borderline personality disorder seems kind of suspicious to me, but I'm no doctor that can tell them apart easily haha. Also there is a 0% chance they would ever talk to a psychiatrist about it lol. I'll give that book a look too. I actually found the book "why does he do that" extremely helpful in my case for… various reasons. I love reading about psychology so I'll probably enjoy the rec, thanks!
Verbal akido is exactly what it was.
I would often walk away from arguments confused how something I was bringing up that bothered me was my fault like how anytime I fed the cats, I did it wrong even though it's just fucking feeding cats there's no magic song and dance or how asking for my own personal time to do just this exact thing, read about nerd shit/work on d&d/be in my brain about my interests was neglectful and rude to them or something like I affected their space with wanting personal time.
In one argument I remember having to plainly state how I was the one upset not them, this was a problem I was having not them.
When we split we had to live together for a few months because the room at my parent's I was moving into needed work on the ceiling. I often got home around 930/10pm from work so I'd doordash an extra meal for myself so I didn't have to the next day. She was looking around the kitchen for something to eat so I offered her what I had ordered. Somehow within the next fifteen minutes I was annoying and it was somehow rude of me to offer this food to them?
I said fuck that put the food in the fridge and ignored any game she tried to play with my mind from that day forward. Which quickly spiraled into some serious abusive shit they'd never done before - punching themselves in the head when they were upset with me, throwing my clothes in the snow, and accusing me of being weird for normal behavior like doing laundry or singing in the shower.
Absolutely insane how some people are. My advice to anyone is really really think about the people in your life. You'd like to think you know them but you've never seen them handle every situation possible and in some of those situations they will absolutely flip on you and do stuff you'd never expect.
Could you give an example how they reacted? I can't picture a human being like this at all.
They had an anxiety disorder. So the sequence of emotions was like:
Their religious beliefs were what I'd classify as, "doesn't believe in anything, but also terrified and trying not to think about it". I don't know if that has a name, normally atheists I meet are more emotionally stable than that and don't collapse when you say the word "afterlife".
TW domestics and abuse
Then they would start pacing, hyperventilating, violent outbursts, self harm, all sorts of crazy shit. It was like they felt the full weight of God or something. Literally nothing would calm them down, it would take hours to days. Sometimes it got too much for them and they'd go for the knives. I've never felt more scared and powerless than trying to get a knife safely off an unpredictable person.
From then on I kept sharp things hidden and I was the only one allowed to chop the vegetables lol. Benzo's helped but obviously you can't just keep popping those. Eventually it stopped being healthy for me too, it was a lot to deal with, and I felt like I was making them worse just by existing near them, so I ended it.
My guess is that they started to associate my face with the episodes which became it's own trigger. Obviously I did my best to try and support them, but sometimes your best isn't enough.
They were worse at first because they were alone, but they had family and friends to lean on. I think they're doing better now. They still have the anxiety disorder of course, but I'm not there to trigger it anymore. I'm doing better without the stress of having to monitor my speech constantly and be on alert for an episode.
Regarding atheists who don't believe in anything but are also terrified: I totally get that
My whole life people have been telling me that I'm going to hell. I believe that heaven and hell are a construction / fantasy of man, and there really isn't anything to suggest otherwise.
But when people keep insisting on a lie, after a while you might start to believe it. Even if you don't believe in it. If that makes sense at all.
I'm not sure what you'd call that either though. Technically I think it might jump the gap from atheism to agnosticism, but I'm no theologian.
In their case, it was more like they believed after death it was total nonexistence and void, but also that concept was scary. Like they didn't actually want the thing they believed, if that makes sense. Their beliefs were just another source of anxiety for them. For context, they were raised in a non-religious household.
I think you just get recycled back, and THAT's what I'm terrified of.
Inserting my daily Britt Hartley reference here: She talks about how the core value of truth is correlated with atypicals, while core values of loyalty & belonging are more typical. It leads a lot of atypical people into atheism, but even a religious atypical is more likely gonna have thought deeply and been tortured by it.
This whole just believe what we tell you and basically be a good person thing is not gonna fly.
That's very interesting… in this case it was actually the opposite. I was the spiritual atypical and my ex partner was the atheist (?) typical. Though they never committed to any belief label.
We did have a lot of problems with those things you mentioned though. They cared a lot about loyalty and belonging, but I needed quiet and calm. Often I would slowly be chased around the house, one seat at a time lol. One of many reasons it wasn't particularly healthy in retrospect.
Was she raised atheist? I've found atheists raised religious have often done a lot more grappling.
(see cousin comment) yep they were raised in a non-religious household
"I felt like I was making them worse just by existing near them, so I ended it."
Well put. I hear that one right in the feels.
AuDHD here, crippling fear of death because my brain can't comprehend not existing.