(M57) Dad inflicting the silent treatment, how do I deal with it?

r/

For as long as I (F18) can remember, my father (M57) always used the silent treatment tactic to punish me (or my family) for our supposed wrongs or just to take his frustrations out on me.

I can count on one hand how many times he ignored me for days because I did something wrong (like taking too long to get ready in the morning or not getting him smth for valentines) but I’d need a lot of hands to count the times where he ignored me and I didn’t know what I did wrong.

It’s honestly so draining and tiring to constantly guess if he’s mad or not. When he shuts the door a little too hard on a random day, I try to remember everything I did that might have pissed him off.

If my mother were to ask him what made him angry, he’d simply say he wasn’t. With that being said, I inwardly told myself that ‘oh if he’s really not mad then I’m not going to act as if I did anything wrong’ but when it comes down to it, I’m afraid of taking up space in the room so I shrink and shut up.

I wanna take the IDGAF approach bc i rlly didnt do anything wrong but it’s very hard to do and to think I have 4 yrs or more of being stuck under the same roof as him makes me want to genuinely give up :((

So i want to ask for advice or anything that can help me stop cowering w my tail between my legs when this happens because I’m really tired at this point and I want to focus on being good at school so i can get the hell away from this house but i doubt i can when i get so stressed out when he’s like this no matter how much I tell myself not to

TLDR: My father gives me the silent treatment and it’s genuinely making my mind go to dark places and I need advice since I’m entering college in a few weeks and I need to focus so I can start supporting myself.

Comments

  1. fiery_valkyrie Avatar

    Look at what resources are available at your school. Many universities provide free or low cost services for students. If you can’t get away from home yet, then I think the best thing would be to learn some methods for maintaining your mental health in the situation and psychologists are likely your best bet.