Showing scars: what are your relationship fears?

[Chad]

A couple of decades ago I was in a committed relationship with a femme that was very violent and abusive. It was my first relationship like that so I was blind sided. She was diagnosed with a illness that I had never heard of and will not name here but later found out that it may have contributed to my experience.

I was bullied, threatened, held hostage, and abused both physically and emotionally. Since I had no experience with that type of behavior I had no tools to deal with it. My family finally saved me from her but not before the damage was done. It took years to recover from those scars but I did. I am still leary of that specific illness but I understand that there are a lot of variations of it.

I fight a lot harder for myself now.