One of my best friends split with her DP of 18th months last week.
He turns out to have been incredibley controlling over that time. this culminated in him essentially holding her hostage for a weekend. he didn't hit her but broke lots of crockery ripped clothing (his) and shouted in her face a lot. She was terrified and basically did whatever necessary to appease him so that she could get out of there.
I am so proud of my friend for ending the relationship. she has been so strong but inevitabley after 18months of his conditioning and mind games she has moments of doubt; sometimes she thinks that she 'caused' his behaviour (the incident I described stemmed from her 'confessing' to kissing a colleague 16 months ago when she and DP were not yet serious about their relationship), and she believes all the insults he threw at her.
Anyway, my question is are there any books you would recommend for her to help her come to terms with what happened and help her gain confidence in her own judgements again?