Is my girlfriend a bunny boiler?
Went on a 4-day holiday abroad recently with my gf. We had a lovely time,great without any fights or problems. In the airport on the way home, I was a little tired and wasnt as chatty as usual. We've been going out nearly 1 year now so she knows me well and should know all is ok. Anyway, at one point she was reading a mag and asks "do you think posh spice got a boob job", and I didn't feel like discussing it at the time so I said "em.. who cares whether she has or not?" I also said this to show I dont care about breast size (my gf is quite small). She says "sorry, I was only asking a question". After, I felt guilty so I straight away gave her a hug and kiss and said "sorry babe, I know you're interested in celebs but ..[cant remember the rest]". I just didn't feel in the mood for discussing something as shallow and pointless as whether posh had a boob job. Then later on I tell her I was glad there weren't any english crossword puzzles in the shop cos they drive me daft. I wasn't having a pop at her, but maybe she thought I was. I just think you can do more imaginitive/creative things with your mind than crosswords.. Anyway, I bought her ice-cream and water later on, and wasn't treating her bad, I was just tired and thus a little quieter than usual. I hugged her and made it obvious I was glad to be around her. Then she suggested we go upstairs for some tea, which I said was cool (I was tired and didn't care where we went). I said I'd get a table, and she said she'd get me tea..
She came back to the table and WHAM... tears, looking upset. This has happened before (sometimes she imagines that I'm having a go at her when I'm really not) and this time she's worse than ever. I tell her I'm sorry if I said anything to upset her, and she gets even more upset, telling me I'm patronizing.. what? I'm comfused. Here I am, just a tired guy in an airport getting attacked by this paranoid woman who thinks I'm being unkind to her. She says she "can't seem to do anything right for me", and that I'm being all quiet, and she thinks she did something to annoy me or offend me, and that I was pissed off. And this was my way of getting back at her. WHAT? That is not my method of communication and she knows that. I tell her I'm too tired to give the usual pep talk about how there is nothing to be worried about, how it's all her imagination, about how much I love her and that everything is fine, etc... [I'm very kind to her (she is sometimes nervous and anxious about things and I've helped build her confidence and get her to leave her fears behind) and never treat her badly... ever. And she has told me before that I'm different to any other guys she's been with]. She takes the coke wrapper off her bottle and wraps it around her fingers at a very fast pace, stretching it and tearing it (alarm bells?) and I'm honestly too tired to do anything so I just let her be upset and fuming or whatever, cos this has happened before and honestly... I'm just too tired to go through it all again. Maybe she is just looking for attention. She now has a mad look in her eyes and looks very intense and almost aggressive. I just try a different approach this time (usually I'm all over her, hugging her and reassuring).
She wants to go outside, so we do. She is crying like mad. She hugs me and talks and talks... about how we love each other and everything will be ok, that sometimes I'm tired and not in a good mood and that she forgives me. I don't talk at all, I just nod my head. I'm feeling quite horrified by the whole situation and almost intimidated by her body language and that mad look in her eyes. It passes away... so we go back to being "normal" again.
The next day I can't bear playing the lie anymore so I tell her - "The entire things was all a figment of your imagination". There was no argument, I wasn't annoyed with you, I wasn't patronising, I didn't even mean any harm in anything I'd said.. heck, I bought you water + ice cream and hugged you a kissed you only minutes before you freaked out... nothing happened. Nothing. It was the invention of your mind.
She just goes silent, cries... says nothing. Then in an hour we're back to "normal" again. I know that if I ask her about it she will start crying and get really upset again, so I forget about it.
So I'm asking the females here - does this kind of thing happen with severe tiredness and PMT? Or could it be serious mental illness / dillusion / schitzo? I should add that things are fine most of the time. But these outbursts make me wonder if she is actually nuts and is just good at convering it up most of the time because she wants me so bad? These outbursts - in a sad sort of way - kind of invalidate all the good times we've had for me... I don't know if that makes sense. But 99% of the time she's grand. It's the 1% that just keeps eating away at me...