Woman Dumping Boyfriend Over 'Awful' Prank Applauded Online

A woman breaking up with her "sadistic" boyfriend over a prank is being backed by Reddit users.

Sharing the traumatic experience with the True Off My Chest subreddit, user u/Admirable_Spirit_673 explained that she is 20 years old and has struggled with anxiety, depression and self-harm for most of her life.

"I also have a history of trauma, but I don't need to get into that," she wrote.

"I made sure my boyfriend knew this when we started dating, because I wanted him to be able to nope out of the relationship if that was too much for him to deal with."

Despite assuring her it "wasn't an issue," her 18-year-old boyfriend has never taken her mental health seriously.

"He would make comments saying stuff like depression is just 'spicy sad' and people with trauma should just get over it" she said.

"I've tried explaining things to him but he just brushes me off, so I do the best to ignore him."

The couple moved in together in August. Her boyfriend has recently become obsessed with "prank channels" on YouTube, and has been playing tricks on the poster constantly.

"At first it was just small things like putting way too much flavor in my water, or salt in a bite of my food," she said.

"But then he started jumping out and scaring me. That kind of stuff really affects me sometimes because of my PTSD, and I tried to explain that to him.

"He would apologize but do it again the next day."

At first, the poster tried to laugh it off. However, the situation escalated when he put noisemakers under the toilet seat.

"I woke up to go to the bathroom and sat down, BOOM," she continued.

"Being late at night, me being half awake, and the loud noise all mixed together and gave me a full blown panic attack."

The poster ended up on the floor in tears, re-living traumatic flashbacks. After a while, her boyfriend came to see what was happening. He remembered his prank and burst into laughter.

"I just stared at him for a second, got up and called him an a**," she said.

"The next day I sat him down and I told him he can NOT keep scaring me like this.

"He pretty much sighed and rolled his eyes, but he said he would stop."

A week went by with no jokes, and the poster believed her boyfriend's prank obsession was over. That was, until she returned from visiting a friend for a few days.

When she walked into the house, all of the lights were off. She plugged in her phone, which had run out of battery on the trip back.

"I got a notification that he sent me a text. It just read 'so sorry, I love you,'" she said.

She replied to the message and heard a "ding" sound in the bathroom. She opened the door and found her boyfriend lying in the tub. There was an empty bottle of pills nearby and he was "covered in blood."

"His wrists were cut. My heart just sank," she wrote.

"I started having a panic attack. I was hyperventilating, crying, and I was just frozen.

"After a minute I ran to the living room to get my phone to call 911, and I heard splashing and then laughter.

"He said he 'got me' and I should have seen the look on my face."

Furious and disappointed, the poster didn't respond, and instead walked straight out of the house. She called a friend to come and get her, telling her it was an emergency.

"My boyfriend keeps calling me and he sent me some texts saying he was sorry and it was just a joke, and I'm over reacting and I need to come home," she said.

"I'm not answering. I don't even know what I would say to him."

Reddit users were horrified by the boyfriend's behavior, with the post receiving almost 19,000 upvotes and over 2,000 comments.

How Many Americans Suffer From PTSD?

According to the National Center for PTSD, an estimated 6 percent of the U.S. population will struggle with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during their lifetime.

Dr. Nina Ross—an assistant professor of psychiatry at Western Reserve University's School of Medicine—said PTSD is triggered by a traumatic event, such as actual or threatened death, serious injury or violence.

Symptoms include flashbacks, nightmares, hyper-vigilance, negative mood changes and thought processes, as well as experiencing intense distress when reminded of the event.

"Purposefully playing a prank on someone because of their PTSD is cruel because this exploits a person's mental health vulnerabilities for entertainment purposes," Ross told Newsweek.

"It also could cause a person to relive the traumatic experiences."

Ross said that if someone refuses to take your PTSD seriously, you can try explaining the condition to them. However, if this fails, it may be time to say goodbye.

"You may need to set up more firm boundaries if a person continues to engage in activities that are harmful to your mental health, such as limiting your relationship with this person," she said.

'It's Emotional Abuse'

Fellow Redditors were disturbed by the boyfriend's "pranks," with HaileyArtz commenting: "What the actual f***."

"You don't even need to 'get' mental health s*** to know that pranking someone with a fake suicide is the most a****** move someone could do."

Holiday_Sheepherder2 agreed, calling the boyfriend "an absolute psychopath."

"He actually took the time to think this out and prepare the whole scene," she said.

Lilwebbyboi commented: "It's not a prank at that point, it's emotional abuse. Especially since he KNEW something like this would f*** her up & he did it anyway."

While Expeditious_Growth called the prank "sadistic," believing the poster's boyfriend "enjoys inflicting pain/trauma and witnessing the aftermath."

In an update, she announced that she'd ended the relationship. She blocked all of his social media accounts and changed her number, and her friend went over to their house to collect her things, so she didn't have to face him.

"I wish I had left him sooner," she said. "There were red flags that I just ignored."

Newsweek reached out to u/Admirable_Spirit_673 for comment. We couldn't verify the details of the case.

Have you noticed any red flags that made you end a relationship? Let us know via life@newsweek.com. We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured on Newsweek.