She sat in front of me, a beautiful, blue-eye brunette. She said that she was being verbally abused by her husband of ten years, who was a successful psychiatrist. He called her names, and told her that he was so stupid she did not have enough sense to form an opinion about anything. For many years she took the verbal abuse because she thought she deserved it, after all she had only finished high school and he was a doctor.

When Jane first contacted me, it was difficult for her to share her story. She had many fears. Would I believe her? Would I be confidential? How would I relate to her?