–“If you are like most women who have left an abusive relationship, you may be feeling a sadness and loss just as acute as if a healthy relationship had ended. The loss of an intimate relationship, even a bad one, involves pain on a number of levels. It is not just the loss of a partner; it is much more.” –“You may also be mourning the profound loss of a dream. When you began the relationship with this man, you may have felt that he was the one. You may have envisioned a life together forever. You may have planned to marry him, have
children, and build a life with him. You may feel a sense of great loss for
the dream you once thought you shared with him.”
–“You may have lost many other dreams along the way. Your dreams of owning a home, living in a community as an intact happy family, being in a longtime, secure relationship. You are mourning all these losses. Knowing it was good and right to leave should not in any way diminish allowing yourself to grieve. You know now that your dream could never become reality, but the loss makes you sad nonetheless.”