Sorry to read your story. I've been there; in the end, I had to take a job in another country --literally emigrate-- to properly make the break that my head wa

Sorry to read your story. I've been there; in the end, I had to take a job in another country --literally emigrate-- to properly make the break that my head was screaming for, but was so very difficult to make happen at the time within the confines of the relationship. I'm lucky that I don't have the long-term damage that you have, but it took years to heal, I think - and even now, there are some traits in my behaviour that are far from ideal and which I think trace back to that relationship. (For example, I've developed a disproportionately strong response to any behaviour from others that starts to even slightly near to 'controlling'. This obviously isn't ideal when mostly people aren't like that.) I think of this as emotional scar-tissue; I need to work out how to start breaking it down.