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How many of you get constant pressure from your psychopath/sociopath/narcissist? As I stated in another post, I have been married for 20 years to this man, a diagnosed NPD/BPD and a serial cheater/liar with hookers. He has now been in a 12 step program for just over 3 months and very committed to that and therapy and being Mr. Helpful. He is starting to heavily pressure me and our older daughter (15) about how “changed he is.” He has done this many times in the past, since 2011, and ALWAYS returned to the deception, cheating and lies. He always claims “this time is different.” Yet, it never has been…but this is the first time he has been so “all in” with his resources. The red flag is that he tries so hard to CONVINCE us to buy into his “change” and his “new way of thinking.” I dont pressure my daughters to spend time with him, but my 4 and 15 year old want to. My 13 year old wants NOTHING to do with him. When he gets any time with us, he almost immediately goes straight to talking about how much he has been impacted by the support group he is in, his therapy, and his “new and changed way of thinking.” I just don’t know if this is real or a major masked attempt? He is fighting so hard for me and our family, but he is also aware of the consequences of a divorce (bringing to light his prescription fraud where he got Cialis (for his hooker use I assume) by calling it in pretending to be his family doctor) and his tax fraud/income under reporting. Not to mention all the prostitute use coming to light, plus he made an attempt in May of this year to leave and “never come back” by going to Mexico and claiming he would kill himself. This was done in reaction to me having an appointment with my lawyer to keep the divorce moving. He never went, but he spent $16,000 on this trip and has not yet got a full refund. He is just so over the top. He had a clean STD test last week, so feels that we should just start a “clean slate” and let him be the “man I always deserved” (his words). I don’t know what to think. I don’t think he can really change, but even if he could, it couldn’t all happen in a few months. He just wants to keep trying to convince me/the kids how dedicated he is and he gets frustrated when we don’t buy in, then he quickly back pedals and says stuff like “I know you don’t believe me now, but I will.” Or, “if you would just spend time with me you would see this time is different.”
It is so exhausting but if I am being fully honest, I am hesitant to finish the divorce due to the cost. I am starting a new job, tomorrow, and I just don’t have it in me to also deal with an epic court battle/financial battle. I have three girls that are with my 99% of the time and life is just so busy….. Divorcing a disordered person just sounds so hard.
Yet, he may royally screw me over someday, not like he hasn’t already, but I know it may get even worse.
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You might consider the pros and cons – divorcing is likely to be difficult and possibly dangerous for you, yet not divorcing is not a good life either. It’s a difficult decision to make. I can understand your choice to have a ‘wait and see’ position at this time in your life, especially with a new job. It may be helpful for you to have some time to observe his behavior and draw conclusions. You may find yourself having some insights as you learn more about his disorder.
My ex psychopath also talked a lot about himself changing – usually that change was just around the corner. He successfully deceived me, until I understood from his consistent behavior that he did not change.
In my experience people who effect real change generally don’t talk about changing – they talk about real content and they do things differently. For example, they express remorse at the harm that their actions have caused others and they convey their new understanding of specifically how their choices hurt you. They begin keeping their word, acting in ways that take the well being of others into account. They desire to repair the relationship for the benefit of others as well as themselves.
People who really do change don’t have to tell others they have changed – it’s clear by their actions. Also, people who really change don’t have a need to keep telling others they have changed, their desire is to do things that increase the well being of others – that is what the change is when someone changes from not caring or wanting to harm others to wanting to contribute to others’ well being.
Real change is generally predicated on new information. A person realizes that his choices hurt others, a person realizes that his choices are against his core values, or similar. In the biblical account of Paul’s change of heart on the Road to Damascus, Paul learned that he was not serving God by persecuting Christians, which he had believed to be true. This was the reason for his change.
When my ex spath said he had changed, I would ask him why? He didn’t have an answer, or he’d make up a hollow sounding response that didn’t jive with the reality of what he’d been doing and what he was currently doing. A person who really has undergone a fundamental change in his choices and the direction of his life is able to explain the reason for the change.
Pressuring others to accept his alleged change for his own benefit sounds like your ex is doing what he’s always been doing – lying and manipulating so he can get what he wants without regard to how others feel.
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Quoting Annette: “In my experience people who effect real change generally don’t talk about changing… it’s clear by their actions.”
Absolutely right! There’s a crucial distinction between people who truly EFFECT change, as Annette said–people who put genuine change into operation–and people who merely AFFECT change: those who pretend to an APPEARANCE of change, without changing in reality! What a beautiful example of how spelling can make all the difference in the world to the meaning of a phrase!
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20yearswasted – this is the truth:
I do see change, but my gut tells me it is all surface change rather than deep lasting change.
Trust your instincts. He will not change.
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20yearswasted, we have all been where your are mentally & emotionally now hon. You want to believe their words & you want to believe their new actions. You want to save your marriage. But from my own personal experience & reading other victims experience…your husband is NOT going to change.
He is Lovebombing you now. He is pretending to be a “good guy” until he moves back into your home & into your bedroom…then he will drop the “nice guy” mask and resume his old ways and his abuse will become 100 times worse then he did in the past.
The day I had confirmation that he (my then h a sociopath) was involved in a two year affair with a co-worker, I was done…but he was not going to let me escape his evil grips. So my ex h said he would “do anything I required of him” to “save our marriage”.
He cried, sobbed, begged me “I love you not her” for hours & hours till I finally gave in to his endless begging. He (they) are like a child wanting a cookie and wouldn’t give up until they get their way. And finally, you are mentally & emotionally exhausted from all of their words that you just give in to their demands to “save the marriage” when it was THEM that tore the marriage apart.
I told my ex h (then husband) that day that he had to stop drinking, needed to go to individual counseling etc etc. Guess what he promised that he would change.
HE NEVER CHANGED!!!
Never stopped drinking & never went to individual counseling & never completed one thing on the list.
The abuse got worse, he broke my spirit fully…I literally crawled out of hell a shell of the person that entered into this abusive marriage.
He won. That is why he wanted me to stay. He wanted to break my spirit fully. That is what they all want to do. They have a motive…If they cant have you, no one will have you.
SAVE YOUR SOUL 20yearswasted!! Save your soul!! Break free from this evil sociopath!!
Look at Lovefraud Donna Anderson “Recovery package” post (do a search up at the top right courner) and break free!!
It will be the best give you have ever given yourself & your children!!
He is all talk & pretending to change…all narcissist & sociopath are all talk & pretending.
How many more years are you going to “waste”??
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Dear 20years, people CAN change. But not sociopaths – they are incapable of real love. After 20 years of being with this person, you are probably confused and worn down. He has disrespected you so many times that it almost seems normal. My perspective is that if a guy cheated on me just once, I don’t think I could take him back. It is one of the deepest betrayals I know. Non-disordered people who hurt their loved ones like that would feel extreme guilt and remorse and go to great lengths to prove themselves. They would understand your trust issues. If you think there is a chance he really changed (which means you don’t think he is a true sociopath), then I would set some very firm limits and take a giant step backward. Make him prove himself before you let your guard down with him again. If he becomes impatient with you or pressuring of you, then he does not understand his betrayal and not worth taking back. I definitely would not sleep with him until you know for sure he has changed and feel you can trust him again. If that day never comes, then so be it. Don’t let him pressure you. Your life belongs to you, not him.
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I will add to this by saying that if you feel you have wasted 20 years of your life with this man, he probably is a narcissist or sociopath.
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