@kschoy I have found many victims are those that are dealing with people struggling with bipolar disorder.
I guess I can see that. Sounds odd, though, since I don’t know if there’s anyone else who feels as shitty about themselves as someone with bipolar disorder. However, in my experience, when I felt the worst, I felt like I didn’t deserve anyone loving me. It became my job to try to drive my wife away. I was operating under the assumption that she had a strong sense of self and wouldn’t put up with my attacks, and kick me out. I suppose with a person who didn’t have a strong sense of self, they might actually believe thee bipolar person, and let the abuse continue.
In my case, my wife got me treated instead of kicking me out. She did wonder what I said about her was real and what wasn’t (none of it was really real, although I believed some of it at the time I said it). However, I felt so badly about myself that I couldn’t imagine anyone taking anything I said seriously.
My efforts to drive her away, conversely enough, were aimed at finding out if she really loved me. If she really loved me, she would show it, and then I could stop feeling like scum. Unfortunately, it turned out that there was not enough love in the world to make me feel ok. Catch22 and weird logic. Welcome to the bipolar world.