I (23F) have a tic that causes me to smile during inappropriate times. This has been triggering fights with my boyfriend (24M).

Dating 8 months

I involuntarily smile during inappropriate times since I’ve been a teenager. It happens during very tense moments. For example, when I’ve been in therapy and have talked about having suicidal thoughts, I grin uncontrollably.

It’s especially bad when people are angry with me, and it has caused fights to escalate in the past between me and people I am close to. I will smile when apologizing to my boyfriend or when he is yelling at me, and I cannot stop unless I put my hands over my mouth. It makes him question my sincerity and confuses him. He will do things to antagonize me like laugh in my face when I am telling him how I feel because he thinks I am lying about not being able to help it.

I know that people misread my emotional expressions, which is why I prefer to have intense conversations over the phone, but my boyfriend wants to talk in person when he is upset. I have been in therapy for a while, but it hasn’t helped with the smiling and I am at a loss for what to do.

tl;dr I smile uncontrollably when my boyfriend is angry at me, but I can’t convince him that it’s not intentional. How do I come off as sincere when we are having arguments?

Submitted August 28, 2018 at 10:02AM by hysteria_voucher https://ift.tt/2MXqqmI