AITA for telling my bf he should go to therapy
My bf (29) m and me (23) F have been together for 6 years. Our relationship has have plenty of ups and downs just like any other relationship. My boyfriend and I grew up very differently. He grew up in a very extremely toxic household. He grew up in a family, where there was no room for emotions. Everyone would scream at each other and then act like nothing happend an hour later. As of the past year or so, my boyfriend has become aware of these traits and these habits within himself and his family. For about nine months now, my boyfriend, a few times a week will express to me certain things about his family and trauma dump on me, but won’t listen or take any of my advice. And I understand because who am I to tell him what to do when it comes to his family? However, recently, the trauma dumping has become a lot on me emotionally. i’ve always been more of an empath and when he’s feeling this rage and pain and I’m having a completely normal day, I’ll carry on that rage in that pain with me through the rest of the day. I’m not sure how to express this to him without him getting super defensive and making it seem like he isn’t allowed to open up to me about things because that’s all I’ve ever wanted inside of our relationship, and if I were to say that the trauma dumping and the things he talks about sometimes is a lot for me to handle he’s definitely going to get defensive about it and feel like he can’t trust me ever again because of the past emotional experiences he’s had with his family, not accepting his emotions. I told him for about a year now that maybe he should try seeking therapy because they will have tools on how to actually help him while I don’t have those tools. He’s very adamant on how therapy isn’t going to work for him although he’s never been. I’m starting to feel like I’m the asshole for keep on recommending therapy, but I’m not sure what else to do because he clearly has things that he needs to work out and I don’t know how to help him anymore at this point..