It might seem glaringly obvious to us but given this behaviour time after time, it erodes our faith in ourselves I think. I ended up riddled with guilt and here I am at the end of it all now not knowing whether Im the abusive one or not. I’m all angry and defensive now and it doesn’t feel good. This is after years of being chipped away at by being told I misunderstood or he just plain didn’t say that, or im remembering it all wrong or that wasn’t his intent.
I don’t think they are insane at all. I think they know what they’re doing. It seems designed to keep us off balance. There is no doubt other things happening here too. More subtle things designed to undermine and spark guilt that you may not even recognise yet as problematic. Read up on the different types of abuse if you can. It can be quite eye opening x