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LIVING WITH THE ENEMY AND HOW I BROKE FREE

‘Anything he didn’ t have complete control over, he simply couldn’t handle’

It’s a funny thing, emotional abuse. Obviously it’s not actually funny at all, but it’s different from other types of abuse in that you can’t see it. There are no bruises; the only wounds you carry are on the inside, but they can take even longer to heal, if ever. The thing about emotional abuse, is it’s not just other people who don’t realise it’s happening to you. Often you don’t even realise it yourself. You just gradually start shrinking, little by little, and over time you come to believe that you are the problem, that you are just hopelessly flawed.

I was just 19 when I met the man who would become my husband. A confident young man, he told me he would treat me like a princess. A few months later, I left behind everything and everyone I knew to be with him. As

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