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Originally Posted by PurpleMirrors3
Totally agree with this.
But. I think protecting the marriage (if that’s what the OP wants) should be the priority. It seems really strange to focus on protecting the sanctity of the therapist/client relationship and boundary’ing out the husband? I would think it should be the other way around for the benefit of both relationships.
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It's HER therapy, not marriage therapy. The problems caused by her therapy are because her boundaries around what is hers are not strong enough. This is IMO, not fact. It is enmeshment when a spouse who is not part of the therapy is "read in" to it, especially when said spouse is abusive or controlling. It seems to me that he's using the information she freely provides to him, to use it against her and control her further. Information is power, including information about what and how you're doing therapy, how you feel about your therapist. If you give this information away to someone who can't be trusted with it, I think you're sabotaging yourself and your therapy.
Obviously people do relationships and marriages in different ways, and I'm not claiming I know what everyone should do. I had plenty of issues in my marriage, but what I learned is being better boundaried as a person benefitted my marriage, it didn't detract from it. Mindmeld and total togetherness were not my goal. Now that I'm a healthier person in a new relationship with a healthy person, I have a greater appreciation for how my developmet away from enmeshment/codependence and towards intimacy with independence has benefitted me.
They say when you're a parent, put on your own oxygen mask before you help your child. Being a healthier person has also helped me parent my child with less dysfunction. I think the same is true for being a partner/spouse/whatever. Develop your self as a person, and protect the space in which you do that to facilitate your individual growth, don't sacrifice yourself for your relationship. In a good relationship, a partner should support your personal growth, not fight against it and certainly not try to control you from doing what you need. IMO only; this is the kind of relationship I want and what I believe. I have no investment in whatever kinds of relationships others want to have. I think the key is "want," though, not just put up with.
I'm sorry, Omers, if this comes across as unsupportive or isn't helpful. This is just the way I see it and I find it hard to watch fabulous women be taken down by controlling men. I wish you the best with all of it.