THE CRAZY-MAKING HUSBAND

This late autumn Sunday afternoon, as I ponder the rolling hillsides and woodland behind my New England home, snowflakes sprinkle across the orange-y brown landscape. I think of the families of deer who generally visit each afternoon to munch, and to socialize. They’re absent today, hiding. Hiding — hoping to live through the next few hideous weeks of rifle-hunting season.

Thinking about the hunters — and the terror they inflict on their prey — somehow got me thinking about the plight of women married to The Crazy-Making Husband.

And illumination struck me.

Wives whose husbands chronically inflict crazy-making upon them eventually become their husbands’ captives. They become Prisoners Of Marriage. Yes, Prisoners.  Trapped by their husbands’ denigration, ridicule, thwarting of their hopes and dreams, neglect, excuses, diminishing, withdrawal, criticism, stonewalling, rejection, and angry outbursts — to cite just a few of his tactics.

Brainwashed into believing they are defective, unwanted, crazy, unreasonable, demanding, *wrong*, and all-in-all, a burden, their Spirits are broken.

These poor women are P.O.M.s — Prisoners Of Marriage.

Who literally fear the emotional and psychological consequences of attempting to escape.

If any of this seems sadly familiar, I assure you that the problem is not with you, dear wife. You feel the way you do because your Crazy-Making Husband is a Master Crazy-Maker.