Category Archives: communication

abuse, belief system, communication, conflict, confusion, controlling abuse, divorce, domestic violence, emotional abuse, faith, hostility, hypocrisy, marriage, messages, passive abuse, religion

Selfish Giving

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I was meeting up with my then-estranged husband at a local book store to transfer our son, Kyle, into his care so the two of them could spend the day together.  Meandering through the aisles while awaiting his arrival, the man suddenly approached me with a basket of chocolate-covered strawberries in one hand and a big smile on his face. 

Rather than feeling touched in any way, I felt kind of sick, but not knowing how to respond in the moment, I simply accepted the berries with gratitude.  The man then tried to enter into small talk with me and ended by asking me if I would like to go out for lunch or coffee sometime.  “No,” came the easy response, in spite of the gift I held in my hands and the fact that our son was observing the entire exchange.  After a couple more awkward minutes, the man and our eldest son finally headed out the door.

That evening, my then-husband called again and tried to talk me into spending time with him.  Not a chance.  After calmly shutting him down from every angle, I closed with, “But thank you for the strawberries.” 

“Whatever,” came his sarcastic reply, and immediately I thought to myself, “There it is.”  I knew those blasted berries came with strings attached – some kind of obligation that I refused to accommodate.  His plan had failed.

Since those days, I have heard and read similar stories and have known that this type of scenario represents a typical abuser strategy, but I didn’t know it had a name:  Selfish giving.*

Selfish giving has the appearance of selflessness, generosity or genuine care, but when you’re in an abusive relationship, it is almost exclusively another form of self-serving manipulation.  Selfish giving imposes an awkward pressure on the abuser’s victim to convey appreciation and – he hopes – an obligation to forgive any and all previous offenses and re-establish some degree of intimacy based on the perception of good will.

Selfish giving is simply another form of crazy-making designed to force you to let your guard down.  Any failure to respond according to the abuser’s anticipated expectations gives him ammunition to paint you as selfish, unfeeling and ungrateful.

Unfortunately, gifts are the abuser’s cheap, easy substitute for legitimate repentance and change.  But note…

  • A truly changed man is willing to identify and apologize for specific things he has done to hurt you;
  • A truly changed man recognizes that he alone is responsible for the changes he needs to make in his life;
  • A truly changed man will respect your boundaries and your need for time and distance to heal; and
  • A truly changed man is willing to acknowledge that his abusive history may have harmed the relationship beyond repair.

On the other hand, the unrepentant abuser believes a heart-warming gift will give the impression of genuine devotion and inspire renewed trust.  The abuser’s motives do not reflect genuine goodness but rather pure, unadulterated selfishness.

So know that you don’t have to participate in his game.

I know it may feel strange to refuse his gifts, offers of help or other seemingly selfless gestures, but when you do, you are refusing to give him access to your life or your heart and depriving him of the power he seeks.  You are setting an important boundary and letting him know that you will not risk jeopardizing your safety, peace and contentment for anyone – or anything.

“Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked; whoever guards his soul will keep far from them.” Proverbs 22:5

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For more on this subject, you might want to check out “Lessons In Crazy-Making.”

*The dynamic was referenced by a commenter on another blog.

Abusers may be of either gender; however, the overwhelming majority of abusers are male.  For the sake of simplicity, the abuser is referenced here in the masculine.  The reader’s understanding is appreciated.

Cindy Burrell/Hurtbylove.com

Copyright 2019, All Rights Reserved

abuse, biblical divorce, Christianity, communication, conflict, confusion, controlling abuse, domestic violence, emotional abuse, faith, fear, religion

Trying to Communicate with an Abuser

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“It’s like he can’t hear me.”

“He makes me feel like I’m crazy.”

“When I try to talk to him, he treats me like I’m his enemy.”

These are some of the things abuse victims might say when they share with me how they try to communicate with their abuser*.

I want those of you who can empathize with those sentiments to understand that there is no real misunderstanding.  The man hears you, he wants you to feel crazy, and it’s not surprising that he is treating you like you are his enemy, because that’s pretty much the way he sees you.

Healthy communication and conflict is part of any relationship, and all of our communication should begin with a recognition of our many differences coupled with a desire to find compromise and meet one another’s needs. 

But abusers are not interested in reason or resolution.  Even though you may approach him in a moment of calm and everything you say may make perfect sense, the truth is that he is not the least bit interested in what you have to say. Furthermore, the fact that you have to find just the right moment to talk to him may be evidence of just how risky trying to communicate with him really is…

As you are speaking – trying to find just the right words to keep him from attacking you – know that he is probably strategizing as to how he can twist your words and turn them back on you.  Expect any comeback to be irrational or unnecessarily harsh, coupled with a how-dare-you, who-do-you-think-you-are kind of attitude. 

The truth is that he views your attempt at finding compromise as a design to undermine him.  In his mind, you are trying to claim for yourself some measure of power he holds – power he has no intention of relinquishing.  

His over-the-top response speaks to his agenda.  He wants you to become so frustrated that you will simply give up and leave him alone.  He also wants to make sure you understand that any future efforts to petition for help or positive change will be met with similar ferocity. 

He is neither ignorant nor innocent.  He doesn’t care if your requests are legitimate or if you are hurting.  He only cares about his absolute right to have his way in everything all the time.

When it comes to communicating with an abuser, you really can’t.  He only hears what he wants to hear and will vigorously reject everything else.  That doesn’t make him right.  It just means that you are seeing who he really is.

It’s not your fault.  It’s that his mind is set.  As difficult as it may be to accept, you need to understand that it’s not that he doesn’t know how to communicate; it’s that he is actually a master communicator when it comes to knowing how to shut you down, shut you out and shut you up. 

No matter how badly you want to find a way to make it work, communication requires two people willing to listen to one another, while the abusive relationship is, in fact, a dictatorship.

“Rescue me, O Lord, from evil men; preserve me from violent men who devise evil things in their hearts… they sharpen their tongues as a serpent; poison of a viper is under their lips.” Psalm 140:1-3 (in part)

*Although abusers may be of either gender, the overwhelming majority of abusers are male; therefore, the abuser is referenced in the masculine. The reader’s understanding is appreciated.

Copyright 2019, All Rights Reserved

Cindy Burrell

abuse, belief system, children, communication, conflict, confusion, disrespect, emotional abuse, enabling, faith, fear, marriage, recovery

Enabling Isn’t Noble

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“A man of great anger must pay the penalty.
If you rescue him, you will only have to do again.”  Proverbs 19:19

For some of you reading this, what I need to share may be difficult to receive; nevertheless, I hope you will consider what I have to say, for I have been where you are…

I know you are determined to fix it, to help the man* to whom you are so devoted, to help him work through whatever pain he is carrying, to love him unconditionally in spite of how he treats you.  I know you want to believe that hiding somewhere beneath that prickly exterior is the man who found a way to win your heart however many months or years ago.

I know you want to be strong, to prove to yourself, God, those who know you and the man you live with that no matter how he treats you, you won’t break and you will never give up.  You believe that somehow, someday his heart will soften, life will become sweet and safe, and you will both bask in the kind of deep, transcendent love you imagine.  I know that each morning you awaken with a new hope that maybe today things will be different.  Maybe today he will see you and decide to love you back.  Maybe today you will find the key that will unlock his seemingly lost and hurting heart.

Continue reading Enabling Isn’t Noble →

abuse, Christianity, communication, conflict, confusion, controlling abuse, disrespect, domestic violence, emotional abuse, faith, fear, hostility, hypocrisy, manipulation, recovery

Lessons in Crazy-Making

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Lessons in Crazy-Making

It was not just a bad night among many, it was an insane night.  Our four kids were all asleep in their beds when my husband and I got into an argument about something rather menial, but he quickly escalated into a rage.  Having no success in calming him, concerned for the kids and seeing the extreme manner of his response, I simply said, “I think you need to leave.” 

At that point, he exploded.

“Oh, you want me to leave, do you!?  Well, if that’s what you want, then that’s what you’ll get!”  He immediately went out into the garage and grabbed a couple of suitcases, returned and marched upstairs, tromping as he went while he continued his tirade.  I followed him up the stairs and tried to calm him down and asked him to be quiet so as not to wake the kids, but this was his moment to make a scene.  He went into the bedroom, tossed the suitcases on the bed and began grabbing his clothes from the closet and loading them up.  He grabbed his conga drums and other instruments, dragged them downstairs and began loading them and other favorite possessions into his van.

 “I’m asking you to leave until you can calm down,” I tried to explain. 

 “You said you want me to leave, so that’s what I’m going to do!”  

It wasn’t long before the kids were awakened.  When they came out of their rooms rubbing their eyes and asking about all the commotion, their father loudly told them that I was making him leave.  They all gathered together on the eldest daughter’s bed, held one another and cried, while I worked to convince the man that he was being irrational (which didn’t go over too well) while simultaneously trying to assure the kids that everything would be okay. 

 After about 45 minutes of loading up his van, he came in and told me he was tired and was going to go to bed and would finish up in the morning.

 “Fine,” I conceded.  He went to bed, I was able to get our somewhat traumatized kids back to their beds, and I slept in the sofa-bed downstairs, where I had been sleeping for months. 

The next morning, I woke early and called my supervisor at work to let him know I would not be in, as my husband was moving out, and I needed to make some arrangements for the kids.  I got the kids off to school, returned home and was drinking a cup of coffee at the kitchen table when my husband slowly trudged downstairs.  Seeing me in the kitchen, he said calmly, “What are you doing home?”

“I stayed home to take care of the kids,” I reminded him, “since you’re leaving.”

He gave me an incredulous look and shook his head as though I had lost my mind.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.  I’m not going anywhere,” he said, and retreated back upstairs to take a shower.

I would like to say that I was surprised by the absurdity of it all at that moment, but I wasn’t.  My former husband had obtained pro status when it came to responding severely and irrationally.  By the final year of our marriage, the word I mentally used to describe our relationship was “insane.”  It was. Continue reading Lessons in Crazy-Making →