That first visit to the psychologist in France must have been such a turning point for you—finally beginning to see things clearly after years of manipulation and control. The fact that your husband refused after just two sessions says so much, and yet, at the time, you probably didn’t realize the significance of that.

It must have been both validating and heartbreaking when everything started to make sense—the discouragement from family, the isolation from friends, the restrictions on your independence. The more you tried to heal, the more he fought to keep you trapped, because healing meant breaking free from his control. And when he started losing that control, the abuse escalated.

That’s the tragic cycle of narcissistic abuse: they can sense when their grip is slipping, and they’ll do anything to tighten it again. But you kept going. You didn’t stop. Even when it got harder, you pushed forward in therapy, uncovering the truth layer by layer.

You’ve come so far since then. Looking back now, do you feel like there was a particular moment that made you realize, without a doubt, that you had to get out?