Oh Cowgirl, I don't think your reaction was overloaded....it's the old roller coaster ride and sometimes you just can't keep going up and down

Your feelings are justifiable Cowgirl. Also, your feelings count too! Being able to intellectualise something does not mean that it is ok if it hurts your heart/feelings. It is easy to rationalise your boyfriend's behaviour due to PTSD and while intellectually it all adds up, it doesn't mean the PTSD behaviour hurts any less or is any less personal. I am sure you could also intellectualise the other side whereas you would think, that of all the people he would be nice to, it would be to you first. You come home looking forward to seeing your boyfriend and you don't get a positive response....anyone would be on the back foot if that happened; PTSD aside.

I hope things are better for you both now. Sometimes it takes us different times to come back from emotional hurt than others. From what I understand it is more likely to be the PTSD suffer who takes longer to bounce back, as they take longer to process the situation than someone who is well, but it is absolutely normal for you to have times where it takes you longer to process the hurt.

Oh, I did also want to mention the abuse cycle here too. Be careful of being mistreated and then excusing it by finding an intellectual reason to rationalise what has happened even though is it hurtful. Example being, a parent mistreats a child and in order to cope the child either rationalises they must have been bad (shifts the blame onto themselves) or finds a reason why the parent mistreated them (does not hold the parent accountable for their actions).....in both instances the parent is relieved of their responsibility. The parent then does it again and again with no consequence, saying sorry to the child each time afterwards due to guilt and so the cycle continues. I am not saying this is your situation Cowgirl but felt it relevant to note to others who may be reading this.