Home→Forums→Relationships→Can I trust again and save my relationship? (Suicide involved)Advice please.
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May 14, 2016 at 2:50 pm #104534Paola VillegasParticipant
Hello everyone, first of all I’m sorry for my grammar, I’m not a native speaker. I’ll try to make a brief summary of what’s been happening in my relationship for the past four years.
We met at school and were good friends first, but eventually we liked each other and started dating. We dated a lot but never really were something oficially because he “wasn’t sure of this” not because he didn’t love me, but because he felt he was lost in life, and he needed to arrange things with himself first, he didn’t wanted to hurt me. Sometimes he apparently was sure of being with me, but in the end he didn’t and this hurted like hell. I was tired and wanted to move on with my life but he promised me that if I gave him one last chance I wouldn’t regret it and so it was. We were together for one year and a half until we both went to study abroad programs for six months. We managed it very well but the first day we got back together he broke up with me because he wasn’t sure that he loved me. I wasn’t expecting that because of all the things he said to me the last months and because t was only the first day I got back, how can you decide something like that? I got very depressed but later on I talked to him and he told me that he has been feeling depressed, I believed him because when we were studying abroad he started feeling terrible and he confessed me that this was something he was struggling with years ago, that’s why he told me several times that he wasn’t ready. It was hard for me to believe him at first, because we lived one year together and I thought it was over because I couldn’t see that in our daily lives.
Eventually we got back together but we only lasted for 2 weeks after he broke up with me again. I was sad but not as devastated as the first time. Less than two weeks later he tried to commit suicide by taking some pills. He is not from this country, he is dominican so his mom took a flight to mexico and it was until then that his family and friends knew he was depressed, because I was the only one that knew it before. I spend three days with him at the hospital and a week later of this episode he left school temporarily and went to his country to get treatment. He has been doing awesome, he is taking his pills, going to the therapist and he even has a job.
He is trying to get back together with me, arguing that after he took treatment he regained joy of doing what he did before, and of talking to me. I still love him, I love him so much, but I’m hurt of the way he treated me during the semester. I also know that he had sex with three girls after we broke up, he argues that we were not together and it was just sex, but for me is different… The point is that when I asked him (before we got back together those two weeks) if he had sex with someone, he told me “no”. He lied to me and that’s something I figure out after the suicide episode and that really really hurt me. He is getting back to mexico to start the next semester in August, but I don’t now if I can forgive him. Sometimes I believe there was so much lies and pain during this semester, there was indifference. But on the other hand I take in account the depression factor and how he was struggling with it from years ago. He want’s to pay a ticket for me to visit him during summer, but I’m not sure. He is putting a lot of effort of getting back with me but some days im excited and some other days Im mad, sad, and regretful. He doesn’t know this but I don’t know how to say it, because I don’t even know exactly how I feel. He is a wonderful man and whenever I am with him I feel so happy, but I’m scared this “I don’t now if we can be together” episode might repeat, Im tired of this… Maybe after he admitted his depression and after therapy things might be different? For real?
May 14, 2016 at 3:43 pm #104536EvanParticipantHi Plvillegas,
Thank you for sharing, and opening up. I can feel the hurt and pain in your words, but also your sense your heart is trying to tell you something. The summary you share, leads me to offer some words that may help….
Firstly, you are not responsible for anyone else’s emotional state. I have also had a relationship where depression is present, and as much as you try, say, do or intend, you are not responsible for changing or fixing him. This means also that you are not responsible to put yourself on the line, stopping your own studies, uplifting your life, and committing to him with everything you have for his betterment, or mental state. You can support, listen, understand, talk, discuss, share thoughts and feelings, but you can not be responsible for what he feels. He must work on himself, as it is his journey. Considering that there is also a level of instability that already exists, you need to ensure that your cup is full, before being there for him.
Secondly, I would suggest that the greatest issue here is trust. Trust is a pillar of a relationship between people, without trust, it is near impossible to continue a relationship as it was. It can be done, but there is a lot of work to rebuild to where the relationship was. This needs to be recognised and accepted by both people, and a willingness to rebuild the trust. To build trust, you give it first and see if it returns back to you. You have done this from what I sense. Your mind now is confused as the trust is broken. You mind is unwilling to accept this at the moment, because your love is still strong for him. Trust and respect go hand in hand…… I sense that both have been tested already.
I also have experienced similar in a relationship (although I initiated the breakups), where something was just not aligned in the relationship, and after separating on numerous occasions, a strong desire to return back to what existed was constantly there. What needs to be addressed here are boundaries. No more instability, and each person must know what those boundaries are. If broken, you must have self integrity and walk away. Perhaps this has already happened, as lying and cheating are not frivolous acts. Boundaries are a guide, and can change upon agreement, and they grow as the trust and respect grows. this is also a pilar of a relationship as it builds.
Putting myself in your shoes, I would allow some distance in the relationship to occur and spend time with myself for a while, keep working at my goals, and allow myself to discover who I am now, after what has happened. Each relationship shapes us, redirects us, guides us, and changes us. For me, this would now become my utmost priority.
Sending a hug for your courage 🙂
Best
Evan
May 14, 2016 at 6:12 pm #104541AnonymousGuestDear Plvillegas:
You wrote that maybe you would consider getting back with him “Maybe after he admitted his depression and after therapy things might be different?”-
He already told you in the past that he was depressed and that didn’t make him a reliable, dependable boyfriend. And regarding his therapy, you mean psychiatric drugs only, correct? Taking psychiatric drugs at best can help, but it is not a cure.
His depression has been going on for many years. It would take a few years of him attending competent psychotherapy, and working very hard in those few years, for him to heal as much as he can.
The only way, and I mean the only way I would get together with him, if I was you, would be if he was attending psychotherapy long term, and then, I would go into sessions with him and the therapist to discuss these very things that bother you: his unreliability, the anxiety it causes you, understandably, also there would be discussions about the causes of his depression, his original relationships (with his parents) and so on.
I believe that unless you and him attend 5-10 sessions with a competent psychotherapist, a psychotherapist that he will be seeing him one-on one for many months, it will be unwise to get back with him.
Please post again.
anita -
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