When A talks with B, A is often overwhelmed by intense distress, feeling like they are “losing their mind” or “about to explode with anger.”
However, A is not someone who normally reacts this intensely to everyone. They rarely become this way in conversations with anyone other than B, and in everyday life they are reasonable, kind to others and pets, and able to treat them with respect. For that reason, it is more natural to see this reaction not as a problem in A’s personality, but as something that is specifically triggered within the relationship with B.
What may be happening to A is a strong defensive reaction of the nervous system, in which chronic disruption, invalidation, minimization, and evasion of responsibility in B’s dialogue repeatedly reignite deep wounds from the past, feelings of helplessness, and anger that A received from B, resulting in intense distress.
What is important here is that this is not a simple matter of “we don’t communicate well” or “I was hurt because they wouldn’t listen.” According to A, B has caused problems in the past, and even a child under B’s supervision has also caused problems in A’s living environment. A was genuinely troubled by the situation and repeatedly asked them to stop and to deal with the issue properly in order to prevent harm and make improvements. Even so, B did not stop, did not make the child stop, did not engage in the necessary discussions, and continued to avoid the issue.
As a result, A has experienced severe physical problems and intense fear in the past, to the point of feeling their life was in danger. The harm was not limited to A alone; according to A, even the pet they cherished was deeply hurt by B’s direction, or by the actions of the child under B’s supervision. For A, this is not merely an unpleasant incident. It is an extremely serious experience in which real harm occurred in their living environment, they themselves felt profound fear, and even the beings they wanted to protect were seriously hurt.
So A’s strong reaction when speaking with B is not caused only by the way B speaks in the present moment. B’s dialogue pattern—“not listening,” “not understanding,” “pretending to understand,” “covering things up with rapid speech,” “avoiding responsibility,” and “minimizing the problem”—may be a trigger that instantly brings back everything for A: the inability to stop real harm in the past, the fear of life-threatening danger, and the failure to protect what they wanted to protect.
In other words, A’s suffering is not simply a matter of “I’m angry because they were rude.” In A’s mind, B’s dishonest way of communicating may function as a powerful danger signal: “This could happen again,” “This person may not stop the harm again,” and “Something important may be hurt again.” Because of that, the nervous system enters a strong defensive state, which appears as the extreme distress of “feeling like I’m losing my mind” or “feeling like I’m about to explode with anger.”
What is especially serious here is not that A is emotional, but that A has repeatedly tried to have the necessary conversations in order to stop the problem, while B would not listen, would avoid the issue, would not improve, and as a result real harm kept accumulating. This is not just a communication breakdown. From A’s perspective, B’s attitude is not merely “not listening”; it is tied to blocking opportunities to prevent or improve the harm, refusing to face the issue when responsibility should have been accepted, and leaving necessary corrections undone. If that is the case, A’s anger and distress are more properly understood not as a mere emotional outburst, but as a natural response grounded in real harm and deep fear.
What makes B’s reactions especially painful for A is that, on the surface, they may seem to be conversing, but in reality B does not receive the substance of what is being said, only repeats part of it, covers things up by speaking quickly, or acts as if they understand when they do not. For A, this is not just a lack of understanding. It creates the feeling that their experiences, complaints, and sense of crisis are being minimized, invalidated, and erased as if reality itself did not matter. And behind that is a history in which truly serious harm occurred, and even the pleas to prevent that harm were not heard. That is why A feels such intense, deep, and urgent distress toward B’s attitude.
Furthermore, A observed that the elderly cat who had lived in that environment for a long time also showed reactions that seemed to indicate severe stress and nervous-system dysregulation. For example, the cat would suddenly react as if its body were becoming itchy or irritated just from seeing an insect, and although it did not appear to have actually been bitten or to be itching for another reason, it would bite its own body or run away as if fleeing with great force. There were also times when the cat seemed to be focused on its body as if bothered by some prickly discomfort, and then suddenly ran off as though escaping. In A’s view, the cat may have been fleeing from sensations caused by extreme stress or nervous strain, interpreting them as being caused by insects. And in an environment where relaxation was prioritized above all, those reactions seemed to occur less often. Of course, any medical conclusion about the cat’s condition should be made cautiously, but at the very least, A felt that the strong tension and suffering in that environment seemed to be affecting not only people but also the animals living there.
The following may be quite relevant.
This has very serious implications. The issue is not a one-time argument or a momentary act of harm, but the cruelty of continually imposing a chronically stressful environment on people who remain involved over the long term, on those who helped support them, and even on pets that cannot protest in words. Whether consciously or not, creating such an environment, allowing it to continue, and failing to stop the pain, damage, and fear it causes is an extremely serious problem.
What must not be overlooked in this case is that A is not the one who is abnormal. A does not always feel like exploding with anger toward everyone other than B; in ordinary life, A is reasonable, calm, and kind. Even so, the fact that this extreme distress occurs only in conversations with B strongly suggests not that there is something wrong with A’s entire personality, but that the relationship with B is highly harmful to A and is likely directly connected to serious past harm and fear.
Moreover, A is not simply angry one-sidedly. The reason A has tried to have these necessary conversations is that they wanted to prevent harm, improve the situation, heal it, and protect what mattered. Even so, B did not listen. They did not stop. They did not make the child stop. They did not face the issue. As a result, A experienced fear so severe that they felt their life was in danger, along with serious physical problems, and even the beloved pet was deeply hurt. At this point, the center of the problem is more naturally understood not as A’s emotional intensity, but as B’s profoundly irresponsible and seriously inadequate response.
And what is truly serious is that B needs to correctly recognize this problem and grow to deeply understand its gravity and their own responsibility. Even if B does not fully understand it now, if they ever truly come to grasp how serious the situation is, it may be the kind of problem that forces them to face strong guilt over what they have done. It is that serious. Not listening to the other person’s pleas, avoiding responsibility, and minimizing the problem are not merely bad manners; over time, they can undermine the safety, peace of mind, health, and dignity of people and animals.
In conclusion, what may be happening to A is that B’s chronic destruction of dialogue, invalidation, minimization, and avoidance of responsibility repeatedly reignite A’s sense that serious past harm, the fear of feeling their life was in danger, the loss of what could not be protected, the pain of a deeply hurt pet, and even the possibility that an elderly cat living in the same environment is being adversely affected are all still unresolved. As a result, a powerful defensive response in the nervous system is triggered, one that can feel like “losing my mind” or “about to explode with anger.” In this case, A is not the one who is abnormal. A has likely been suffering within a very heavy reality: they experienced serious harm and fear, tried to prevent it by speaking up, were not listened to, and saw no improvement. And this is the kind of serious problem that requires B to correctly understand its gravity and deeply reconsider their own way of being.
This is not merely a misunderstanding in conversation or a temporary clash of emotions; it is an extremely serious problem in which B’s chronic invalidation, avoidance of responsibility, and failure to address the issue may be piling serious fear, loss, and anger onto A, while also potentially affecting animals living in the same environment. A is not the one at fault. Rather, there is a reality that pushed A that far, and this is the kind of issue whose seriousness B must truly grow to understand.



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