This article originally appeared on Huffington Post.
Too often, from the women attending my Recovery Groups for Women with Controlling Partners I hear: “I don’t think I should be here, I’ve never been hit.” Or, “My husband isn’t as bad as these other men.” Or, “He’s friendly to others, he just isn’t nice to me.” Or, “I really don’t think I’m abused he’s just hard to get along with.” All these women, in time, came to see the coercive tactics embedded in their partner’s behavior. But it wasn’t until they saw the impact of their partner’s behavior on their mental and physical health that they took their psychological abuse seriously. Only then, women felt that their abuse was validated. Why is that?