Anxiety Can Make You Say Mean Things

Thank you… to all of you to help me see things a little more clearly.
Hurt and confusing also rules the life of a helper.

I have a husband who acts just like this. We've been married for 36 years. It feels like when things are out of his control things get worse. He is medicated for ADHD. We have 4 grown sons and when we all get together, 4 sons, 3 daughter in laws and 5 grandkids, for holidays or lake trips I am the but of all of his anger and lashing out. He constantly cleans and is mad about the smallest of things. I have a pretty even personality and this seems to make it worse for him. He will also come home from work and just loose it if anything is not perfect. I never know how to react to him. He has hurt my feelings more times that I can count and my best reaction to him is just to leave the room. He tries to suck me in to argue with him, which I do not like to do because he can say horrible things to me. He never apologizes, and I'm just stuck feeling horrible. I don't even know if her knows that he has a problem, how do I approach him about this issue? Is there medication that helps with this?

Hi so I have this very special person in my life where we became friends then we became closer than friends. So getting to know him more, he started to tell me about his anxiety. So I had asked questions, looked up what it is( so I couldn’t judge him), and got basically the whole understanding. But as we’ve been getting closer with each other, he began to show signs of control issues. Then when we’d get into arguments, he’d say things that would hurt my feelings. It started becoming like a every week thing. Fast forward, we cut it off and got together again and the same thing would happen. So I called him out on it, and he would tell me it’s because of his anxiety. I would tell him that that’s just an excuse. But he sent me articles justifying it wasn’t. The arguing became more frequent and soon enough the rude words became heard often. Until almost every time we spoke it’d lead to an argument. Time has passed and we got into a big argument and he said something really mean and by that time I would tell him that whenever he feels anxious to calm down cause when he doesn’t he just starts to defend himself in any means necessary. So this big argument we got into, and he said something so bad that I just ended it because at that point I couldn’t take it. We would argue over the smallest things and it’s always be because he escalates it. So we just became friends after I forgave him and even then when communicating over text, the smallest thing he’d blow everything outta proportion and cause me to get mad and then he wonders why I’m mad. He says mean things and disrespects me and he doesn’t see it until I point it out. I’m tired of telling him when I’ve had enough. It’s exhausting trying to get him to apologize cause he never gets it until a day later. And by that time it’s too late. My feelings are already hurt. I just don’t know what to do when the arguments start to form because itd be over the smallest things. Do I just give up on him or continue to deal with the emotional stress everyday?

Hi Everyone,
Just wondering if anyone can give me some advice as to what I can do. I am currently in a relationship with a guy that has really bad anxiety and just like in the article he is becoming mean to me when I speak to him. He blames me for the causing his anxiety and continuously says I’m selfish whenever he has his episodes and that I want to see him suffer which is why I am creating his anxiety. I feel like I am partly to blame because I sometimes when we talk I trigger his anxiety out of nowhere (which I think why he blames me for it). The latest episode was caused by a conversation about me complaining about something my cousin did. But nothing was ever about him. I have been since checking up on him daily to see if he is alright but he just keeps saying he is angry at me and this is all my fault.
It escalated further today because he said some hurtful things when i told him I wanted us to be okay soon and I answered back telling him that it isn’t right for him to say those because he makes me feel worthless and I didnt want to fight with him. I stopped replying to his last message in fear our fight would escalate further if I say something wrong.
I am currently at a loss as to what I can do to help him. Or if there is anything I am doing wrong. I have tried counselling before since I want to understand his situation better and I was also affected greatly but it didn’t help since the counsellor just told me basically to be more religious. Mental health is not really discussed so much in the country I live in so I do not know who to approach. I want to give this relationship a chance and I want to do it properly but I do not have the tools or resources to research properly and be there for him in the right way. I have read numerous articles online already but it still isnt enough.
Hoping for someone’s advice.

Today I was in a sushi restaurant looking at a menu with my daughter. A friendly lady asked me ' Do you like spicey ?'. She and her husband then recommended a sushi roll they loved. I responded saying oh cool thanks I'll try that. I attempted more friendly dialogue feeling my usual social nervousness as usual. I noticed their faces changing from happy to offended and awkward. It really troubled me as they really looked weirded out at me, and I honestly thought 100% I was trying hard to be nice ! Later I asked my daughter... was I acting weird ? Was I doing something I'm not aware of ? Because they really seemed badly affected by me. Time and time again over the years I keep noticing people react this way to me mid conversation. My daughter said to me Dad.... your face was fine, your tone was strong with sarcasm, and I sounded unkind and condescending . I'm not kidding it's taken me 20 years, and this silly situation today for a eureka moment. I'm like oh no...... this is what I've been doing to people. This is how I treat people and act when experiencing social anxiety ! I had NO idea. I believe this is the first step to stopping this awful habit and getting better.

Being constantly berated by the individual with anxiety can feel abusive!!! When you reach your limit the person with anxiety doesn't know why your upset or what your talking about. Then blames you for misunderstanding. Please be aware the anxiety negatively affects EVERYONE

This. This was written perfectly. How do you move forward or what exercises do you do to control this behavior? I will get back on medication if I have to or back to counseling. I’m so dang tired of being like this. I have no friends anymore and the few people I do interact with I can tell they don’t like me. I’m so isolated by this anxiety it makes it worse.

I have been with my husband for 22 years , married for 11. I love him and want to make it work but it has gotten bad. He likes to call me names and make everyone feel bad. He also likes to drink and when he does it makes everything worse. A week ago I asked him to move out and get himself help. He sent me this article today. After reading it I get mixed emotions. I have tried asking him time and time again to quit drinking and be nicer. I just don’t want to walk away if it something as easy as getting on medication but I also don’t want to put myself and kids last anymore.

I am stuck and need advice. My husband has anxiety and I completely understand how it feels. I have learned from years of therapy how to think first and try to keep a clear head. He, unfortunately, does not seem to want help and medicates himself in an addictive behavior. I try and do everything I can to keep stressors away from him and handle everything, bc I know he cannot. That means handling all 6 kids, keeping the house inside and out clean and kept, all errands, well this list could go on forever. Eventually I get worn down and need help (which I do not get). When this happens, and I ask for help or understanding bc my situation has been piled on for so long, he has an anxiety attack. He says the most mean things about me, flips the situation as if he does everything and I do nothing, and makes me feel completely alone and worthless and tells me his anxiety is worse and I just say I have it for pity. I could be crying in front of him asking him to stop, and he will continue to berate me. His go to request is always divorce. We have separated in the past, and he begged me to understand his anxiety and come back. I did because I love him. Because I believe in what we said in our vows. But he has a way with words that makes me feel like life would be better without me for everyone, not just him. My kids want me to leave, but I feel torn bc I know he can be good. I feel guilty because sometimes I question if he is just saying he has anxiety just to not feel guilty for telling me how he really feels (bc it is horrible and no one should ever hear it) or if he really is having anxiety and I am a bad person for questioning it. Please help me....idk what to do

Hi,
My now ex-boyfriend suffers from severe anxiety and panic disorder. He was on meds but had an adverse reaction to them and decided to quit cold turkey on July 30th. Since then in the following weeks his anxiety and panic attacks intensified. He had nightmares and barely gets any sleep. Slowly his behaviour began to change. I urged him to get help and go back to see his doctor. He refused.
From Aug 19-31 he was traveling for work. He works in a very demanding and very high stressed field. I should also mention he's mildly on the autistic spectrum.
In August up until the 24th we were still making life plans together. He had his attacks but he was able to work through them.
August 25th he had a severe attack that lasted hours.
August 26th he was paralyzed by his anxiety and sat in hotel room on his bed for 6hrs. Since then he's had constant attacks and began self medicating with alcohol. He doesn't always get drunk but he will if the opportunity is there. He never did that before.
Since the 26th he's been distant. He said he still loved me and that he didn't want this to end as of Sept 11th. He had another severe attack on the 14th when we were supposed to see each other. He canceled on me and decided to go out and get drunk with colleagues. But he apologized and said he still wanted to be together. I reassured him I would always be here for him.
He had to fly out to NY again for work. I didn't hear from him for 5 days. I didn't reach out either because I didn't want to give him additional pressure on top of his work. He was out drinking every night.
He returns Wednesday Sept 19 and is a completely different person. He was hostile, verbally abusive, cruel in his words and uncaring. He broke up with me. I didn't fight him on it, I left. He also admitted to using adderall to help him focus at work during his panic attacks. He texted the next day to say Sorry but we haven't spoken or texted since.
I guess what I'm asking is, is this normal? Can someone's personality change so drastically? Prior to Aug 25th he was loving, kind, sweet and we were totally in love.
He is refusing help. I'm scared and worried for him but I don't know how to approach this. He ended things with me and isn't likely to want my help.

My daughter has anxiety. Severe social anxiety and fears. She doesn't sleep well, insomnia at night and 'lithargic' through the day (most of my family judge her and think she's lazy). She starts arguments and occasionally upsets people with her sarcasm and rudeness, but I know she feels insecure, hates herself and guilty at her snide comments. I think she puts others down as a defence mechanism. She's late for everything, which frustrates family and friends and eventually she makes them angry, they think she's selfish and they now don't like going out with her 'when she's moody'. I love her so much but don't know how to support her. When she's happy she's amazing, but when she's low, it's heartbreaking. Some days she doesn't think she's worth anything and thinks life would be better for everyone if she wasn't here. I don't know what to do?

Wow. Just...wow. This describes me to a T.The guilt is the hardest and most painful part. I have always thought I was alone, thank you so much for sharing.

My friend is taking meds for anxity and depression I,m very close to this person. Now she's being mean to me and a lot of peaple in this building.especially me is it the meds or something else

Hi, I am guilty of this and have ruined a wonderful relationship. I recognised my stress and anxiety building and ignored it. O course it ended up in me expoding and being very hurtful. Now I feel worthless and hate myself. How do you avoid this happening?
Really at my wit's end, feel very ill and helpless. Feels like I recognised everything just too late. Dunno where to turn

My husband has terrible anxiety and is on Citalopram. He is a wonderful man and I love him but he has days when he deteriorates and says the most disgusting things about me and my children. He drinks a lot to cover whatever is going on inside his mind and I used to argue with him and cry all night over what he said but now I can spot the 'beginning of an episode and just agree with him and then hold his hand and this has so far diffused some horrible situations. I just wish I could cure it all to live a normal life like my friends and family do.

Wow I wish I read this last month! I split up with a girl because I thought she was just awkward, nasty and weird - she did mention anxiety once but would never talk to me about her feelings or stuff like that - in fact after a very random arguement (she was agreeing with what I was saying but arguing like we were disagreeing, and repeating what I just said but not agreeing with me?) I said I can't figure her out and she told me don't even try she can't figure herself out a week later we split up and I may of been a bit harsh on her telling her all the horrible things she said and basically saying she was a terrible girlfriend that's why she'd had terrible ex's - whoops......how the hell do I apologise to her cause she's just shut me out like we never even met each other!?

I dealing with anxiety and depression I have said things I shouldn't have. One ? I still talk to my ex girlfriend who tore my heart apart is this a good idea

Hey Julia, just reading this because my friend says I don't understand her severe anxiety. I wanted to know if anxiety can make you say nasty things to people because last weekend she actually managed to get herself banned from ever being at my boyfriend's house agin (by his mother!) because she was incredibly rude. I called her out on this and now she isn't talking to me. I understand she has anxiety and I have done my best to be understanding and accomodating however last weekend she just went too far. She wanted to throw our god child in the fire because she doesn't like children :/ I am of the opinion that anxiety doesn't control what comes out of your mouth, but that's just an opinion. I'm here searching for evidence that it may have been responsible for the things she said. Even so, it's hard because she really hurt a lot of people's feeling including my own and I have been there for her for so many years. I cooked her food and let her take all the left overs when she said she had no money for food. I drove from Sydney to Brisbane to help her move house. I have sacrificed my own comfort and spent evening incredibly stressed making sure that she is as comfortable as possible. I drive her all over the place because she's too anxious to learn to drive and hates taking the train over to my house. The list goes on forever... really. I have very rarely been thanked for these things. She even keeps the tupperware I give her all the food I cooked for her in :/ I'm just finding it very hard after this weekend where she offended a lot of people and has deflected any responsibility she has over it onto her severe anxiety. I managed to get her to see a psychologist last year and I believe she is still on anti anxiety meds but she is not really helping herself in the ways I have been seeing online, like getting enough sleep, eating healthy, exercising etc... It almost feels as if she enjoys being anxious which is an awful thing of me to think. I don't know if you have any wisdom to share with someone who is on the end of their tether. I really don't mind her anxiety but when she starts saying hurtful thing to other people that's where I draw the line. Presently she is not talking to me. I hope she does soon. I have encouraged her to return to her psychologist because if she does not try to improve her situation then I will find it very hard to continue helping someone who wont help themselves.

Help needed. If possible could you advice me on anxiety issues with someone I am close to?

This article explains Steve Jobs, Bubba Watson, Gordon Ramsay and me......

Been there, done that. Just add beer and the verbals get worse sometimes. Then regret and depression. When elevated GAD, or anxiety, I have learned to speak slower and think before you speak. But, no one is perfect. Who can judge who?