“What Would Happen If I Stop Letting My Abusive Partner Get To Me”

What do you truly love about this man who takes a ‘sick pleasure’ (your words) from abusing you? How do you know he is mentally ill? People who perpetrate domestic violence – which includes emotional abuse – may be ‘bad’, but there is nothing to suggest they are mad. What’s more, nobody has ever yet transformed an abusive relationship into a functional one by sticking around to try and take away from the abuser the ‘sick pleasure they get’ from abusing.

“Thank you for being you”

This week I’ve been working with a client who has done a lot of healing from an abusive relationship. When she spoke to me, she was quite tearful about something her new partner had said to her. She said: “Today my lover thanked me for being me. He didn’t tell me I wasn’t good enough. He didn’t reproach me for not being loving enough. He didn’t humiliate me for not being thin enough. He didn’t ridicule me for not being clever enough. He simply thanked me…For being me. That was almost too overwhelming to take on board…”

“Abusive ‘love’ is…”

When you said: “I love you” to your abusive partner, you doubtless surrendered your heart and your independence. When he said: “I love you”, he took possession of your heart and your independence. What did he give in return?