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Is my girlfriend gaslighting me? (Edit: No, she is not gaslighting me, but may have some other issues.)

Today, before taking an Uber home, she sent me a text wanting me to be downstairs on the street to greet her as the Uber arrives. I read it and told her that yes, I’ll be there. I didn’t notice any further text because I was in the middle of something.

Later, I hear the door opening and went to our door to greet her, she was furious and refused to talk to me. I realized I forgot to turn my phone back from silent mode after work today. I told her that it is my bad, she still refused to talk to me. At this point, things are still normal for our relationship, she would usually become willing to talk after a while.

I usually go to sleep at 22:30 and she knows, so I thought we’d sort things out tomorrow and went to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night (later I found out it was 1a.m.) to her standing next to my bed (we sleep in separate bedrooms), and she began asking a series of pointed questions: “What would you do if you found out that I was gone?”, “What would you do if the CCTV on our street is broken by chance?”, “What would you tell my mother if I went missing?”, “If I was actually kidnapped, would you kill the guy for me?”

You know, the usual. I thought she’s just angry at me still and wanted to vent, so I went along with her for the time being: “I’d be very worried and look for you everywhere”, “I’d sue the city”, “I’d tell your mother exactly what happened and say I’m sorry”, and “I’d kill the guy who kidnapped you”.

She grumbled and asked a few follow-up questions, like “if you’re planning to kill the guy, what would you do with our cat?” But at this point, I think she’s finding it difficult to stay angry at me. I tell her again that I’m sorry I missed her text, and that next time this happens, she should just call me to make sure I see her text, but she left soon after without acknowledging my apology.

I know I’m in the wrong for missing her text. Not trying to argue otherwise. My question is, am I really responsible if someone kidnaps her between getting off the Uber and getting into our apartment complex? Is she trying to guilt trip me into thinking her anger is justified or am I really a horrible, kidnap-facilitating bad person for missing a few texts?

Edit for context: we live in a pretty safe city that ranks top 10 in the world on low crime rate. Also, thank you all for educating me on what gaslighting actually means. It was 2 in the morning when I posted this, I did not have the energy to find the answer myself.

Jimmycrackcrack , (edited )

I’ll add to the chorus. No, by definition this isn’t gas lighting, but the behaviour is extreme and no less concerning. I’ll not try to give amateur psychological diagnosis over the internet like some here are apparently willing to do, but you don’t need that to know that she’s acting in a really fucked up way.

I wouldn’t say you were “in the wrong” for missing her text, I mean, you missed it, it’s not like you chose to do that, but I can see why from her perspective it felt temporarily frightening and it made her angry to be put in that situation (I’m assuming she was just frightened and that that’s justified where you guys live, because where I am, her request is strange in the first place and getting mad about it not being fulfilled is ludicrous). How she’s dealt with those unpleasant, but temporary emotions that had a perfectly reasonable explanation and resulted in no actual harm is unreasonable, unfair and ridiculous.

The questions themselves are as manipulative as they are pointless. “What would you tell my mother?” I hardly think that’s a particularly important consideration “she’s been kidnapped” probably, since that’s what’s happened in this scenario, the question is not asked to get an answer, it’s asked to maximise guilt because she thinks it’s your fault if some psychopath kidnaps her. The subsequent questions likewise are selfish questions to ask because realistic answers are implicitly unacceptable, she just wanted debasement and contrition. If the CCTV is broken then the police, who would be the ones investigating this, would have their investigation compromised, there’d be little you or anyone could do about that hence asking because she wants some kind of super hero saves the princess type of answer or for you to have no answer so she can pounce. She’s extracting false or unrealistic promises on purpose as a kind of emotional salve. The worst and most concerning of all is the request that you kill someone for her, this is real life, not John Wick. I can only assume and hope that she doesn’t really actually believe you’d do any of this nor really want it and it’s just part of this stupid punishment where you’ve got to promise the moon over and over until she feels you’ve made an idiot if yourself for long enough. If she really is sincere about that request and wants to bring it up again in any serious capacity that really would be time to leave because the fact that she has a manipulative streak and is now apparently murderous as well raises a lot red flags, but most likely she was never serious to begin with and this will likely not be something that comes up particularly often. This was up to you but frankly I would have stopped the game of make believe at that point and not actually made a promise to kill people on her behalf even if it’s all non-specific fantasy, it’s not a prospect that should be entertained on any level. The thing about the cat was just funny and honestly would have been kind of sweet if it wasn’t for everything that came before. It is evident from the order of questions and the fact that you had answers to everything at that point that she was reaching for a “gotcha” to prove you don’t think about things because you’re somehow inconsiderate.

This response to an everyday wrinkle in the fabric of life is something to keep an eye on because if she cannot deal with being temporarily made to endure bad feelings on occasion without having to make you pay then this is going to happen to you a lot and the things you’re accused of or indirectly implied to be responsible for will be long and absurd. Let her cool off on this specific incident and if after there’s been time to reflect, she still brings it up again with the same manipulative and guilt tripping approach I’d suggest to her that maybe it’s not working out. If this single incident has shaken her faith in you so badly maybe she could take some responsibility for her own safety since apparently nothing you say will convince her that you’ll be of any use in that regard.

awesome_lowlander ,

I feel like there might be a culture gap here. OP hasn’t mentioned where he’s from, or what his neighborhood is like. I’ve lived in places where women do NOT want to be alone at any time, and I suspect many of the commentors here have never experienced a place like that.

It might just be an unhealthy relationship, but depending on context, it might be a very reasonable and understandable reaction.

PS - none of this is gaslighting. OP, do you even know what it means?

Edit: Nvm, OP mentioned they live in a safe city in the comments. Proceed with the traditional calls for breakup!

billwashere ,

The “be on the street to greet her as her Uber arrives” is a giant red flag by itself. It’s about her controlling you. You should run, believe me.

SturgiesYrFase ,
@SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml avatar

Classic coercive control, what used to be called brainwashing. It’s emotional abuse.

EatATaco ,

You know, the usual.

I’m sure it’s been said already, but there is nothing usual about what you described. She sounds unstable and you should reconsider this relationship.

But to be pedantic, nothing about what you described sounds even remotely like gaslighting.

dylanmorgan ,

Just to clarify your second statement, gaslighting is when person A tries to convince person B that person B did not see/hear/experience something that person B did in fact see, hear, or experience.

In OP’s situation, their girlfriend might be gaslighting OP if she texted “I’m getting an Uber home, see you in a bit” and then got mad and insisted she had told OP to meet her at the door.

All that said, I will echo many others in this thread and say that just because it isn’t gaslighting doesn’t mean OP is in a healthy relationship. OP, please insist on relationship counseling at a minimum.

sp3tr4l ,

It is absolutely needless, unreasonable guilt tripping, though.

barsquid ,

If she consistently behaves like this when you make a mistake, then you are being emotionally abused.

norimee ,

Has any of you guys commenting even thought that they live in an overly dangerous place and she was genuinely scared?

Of course, waking him in the middle of the night was over the top and maybe a red flag, but anxiety can do that to you.

What would you do if the CCTV on our street is broken by chance?

Who has CCTV in a residential street, that isn’t dangerous to walk through? Nowhere where I live, but I’ve been to some sketchy parts of Manila for example where my local friends would freak out at the thought of walking home from the corner alone. (“Oh my god, do you have a death wish? You can’t let them drop you anywhere that isnt directly your actual door! Someone will kidnap or kill you!”)

I think her behaviour was somewhat understandable if she was genuinely scared and felt let down by him because he seemingly didn’t care for her safety.

We all act irrational sometimes when we are scared, that doesn’t mean everyone has a personality disorder or someone even suggested schizophrenia. Seriously people! Cut others some slack for some irrational emotions every now and then.

OP, tell your girlfriend that you love her and care about her and that you’ll make an effort to be more thoughtful of her safety and her fears in the future. Because this just might be it. She felt unsafe and that you didn’t care if something happens to her. She probably had these thoughts on a loop in her head since she got home.

EatATaco ,

I’m generally pretty generous when it comes to realizing I’m hearing one side of the story and that it’s always much more complicated.

But, dear God man, if what he says is even remotely true and she was hovering over him while he was sleeping, and then when he awoke she asked if he would murder someone for her, and then what he plans to do with their cat after the murder, that’s not just being “genuinely afraid” and acting irrationally when in the middle of being very afraid.

She might be suffering from some anxiety that she needs to address, but let’s not play down how disturbing this is…especially because he called it “the usual.”

Skankboot ,

would you kill the guy for me?

You know, the usual.

14th_cylon ,

everything was already said in this thread, except for one thing: it is pretty normal that the taxi driver waits for the woman to enter the building; she can always ask to make sure he will do that.

so there really isn’t factual problem in the scenario that was described.

eran_morad ,

Fucking run, bro.

Illuminostro ,

en.wikipedia.org/…/Borderline_personality_disorde…

“Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined emotional abandonment.”

Run. She may decide to do the old murder/suicide if she thinks you’re going to leave her.

EatATaco ,

Holy shit you gotta love the Internet with people, based on this one story, thinking it makes sense to warn that she might be planning a murder suicide. Lol wow.

Nima ,
@Nima@leminal.space avatar

also why does it have 22 upvotes? very scary.

peopleproblems ,

Really? No.

Borderline personality disorder is a special kind of crazy, yes, but it’s severe abandonment anxiety at it’s core. I hate how much BPD gets thrown around, because it’s quite a bit more benign than people understand.

This situation doesn’t tell us ANYTHING about any mental disorder she may or may not have.

IT DOES tell us that she is not a healthy individual and he needs to fucking run because we don’t want to find out what really is wrong with her.

Illuminostro ,

She wanted him to let her know when he got home so she could meet him at the door. To know he was there. And then punished him for forgetting, in a very irrational way. That is the definition of the fear of abandonment.

peopleproblems ,

No, SHE wanted him to meet HER at the Uber when SHE got home.

Today, before taking an Uber home, she sent me a text wanting me to be downstairs on the street to greet her as the Uber arrives. I read it and told her that yes, I’ll be there. I didn’t notice any further text because I was in the middle of something.

Nima ,
@Nima@leminal.space avatar

can we stop villainizing a mental illness please? this is the most blatant overblown reaction ever.

also, his girlfriend is just batshit. just say that. it’s obvious, but you don’t need to insult those who suffer just because it’s a convenient tool to use as a villain.

BPD sucks all the way around. don’t use it as a catch-all for your hatred.

frightful_hobgoblin ,

this is the most blatant overblown reaction ever.

correct take

Illuminostro ,

Motherfucker, Im Borderline myself. I KNOW WHAT THE FUCK I’M TALKING ABOUT.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU, NARCISSUS.

Nima ,
@Nima@leminal.space avatar

take it easy, dude. don’t all caps me because I don’t share your views on BPD.

also I love how you say “this is not about you” when literally you made it about you and BPD 😂 and then fabricated some murder suicide plot for some reason.

lol.

GBU_28 ,

I’m sorry, can you highlight anything from this story that aligns with the definition of “gaslighting”? I’m sure you looked up the definition and examples before you typed out this post

14th_cylon ,

since op is asking questions like

My question is, am I really responsible if someone kidnaps her

i’d say she is pretty successful

GBU_28 ,

That is not gaslighting holy shit

Wes4Humanity ,

This is not gaslighting, but it is odd.

What would have happened if you had just said “sorry I’m really busy with work today and won’t be able to meet you at the drop off”?

If this would cause her to act the same way, then there’s something wrong. Maybe she recently did a true crime binge and is feeling insecure about her safety? Or maybe she’s showing signs of mental illness. If you guys are in your early 20s, that’s when schizophrenia typically shows up, and can definitely have some paranoia to it. But, you’d need to get a professional to diagnose something like that.

If it wouldn’t cause her to act like this, then she’s probably just pissed you didn’t do what you said you would do. Maybe you have a track record of this kind of behavior and she’s starting to get tired of it?

Alexstarfire ,

None of that is gaslighting. However, it’s a red flag.

Illuminostro ,

Agreed. Sounds like Borderline Personality Disorder. Get her some help, or get far, far away.

peopleproblems ,

No, it doesn’t. Nothing here screams fear of abandonment. It screams insecurity, it screams anxiety, it screams mentally unhealthy, but this doesn’t say anything that could highlight BPD, or any other disorder.

Illuminostro ,

It absolutely does, and I’m getting the vibe this is personal for you. This is not about you.

peopleproblems ,

It absolutely does not. I’m not sure what you guys aren’t reading here, but the very first paragraph is about her wanting HIM to greet her when she arrived home in the Uber.

Being scared of being kidnapped is not fear of abandonment.

Y’all aren’t helping him if you’re telling him the wrong reasons to do the right thing. That ends up hurting both.

Illuminostro ,

I have first hand personal knowledge of Borderline disorder. You don’t know what you’re talking about.

monsterpiece42 , (edited )

Jumping in, I also have a lot of BPD experience (example, a marriage of well over 10 years).

This is very BPD-adjacent. I’m not saying OP’s gf has it per se, because there is no way we can know from here, but this is definitely on brand.

If you read between the lines, the social conversation could written as this:

“Heading home, I need support”

“I’ll support”

<Doesn’t support>

<She feels abandoned, fight or flight kicks in and it turns her attachment-avoidant, results in silent treatment>

<OP gives space, which is interpreted as further abandonment>

<OPGF can’t take it anymore, and asks questions that feel like they’re out of left field because in fight-or-flight kicks in, clear thought is nearly impossible>

<OP finally gives reassurance that he didn’t abandon her>

<Normalcy continues>

[email protected] read through this comment chain, therapy is the answer here.

ramenshaman ,

Abandon ship, my dude.

tiefling ,

“What would you do if you found out that I was gone?”, “What would you do if the CCTV on our street is broken by chance?”, “What would you tell my mother if I went missing?”, “If I was actually kidnapped, would you kill the guy for me?”

You know, the usual.

Are you ok? Blink twice if you’re ok

FeelzGoodMan420 ,

Rekt

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