My friend has been married to her DH for 25 years. We've known for a while that he's not exactly nice to her. He once said to us that he only lets her drive when he's had a drink and then he doesn't notice how bad her driving is. I was appalled at the time as her driving is perfectly good and even if it wasn't, a crack like that is out of line. There's been lots of other stuff like this. He increasingly undermines her confidence, telling her that she cannot manage things and he needs to make decisions for her.
Anyway there's loads more to it and recently he's really upset her. She's having counselling and is on a big dose of anti-depressants from the GP.
We met up last week for coffee and she's clearly not right. I think she should leave him because he's making her so unhappy. I didn't exactly say that, in so many words.
She's been dependant upon him for everything, she just gets pocket money from him but she's recently come into some money, so she's in a position to make a life away from him. The problem is, he's already happily spending her money and she's going along with it.
There's obviously a limited amount I can do. I've suggested she hangs on to her money for now, so she has choices about her future.
How can I help her?