Notas del episodio
Elaina tells the story of how she finally got out. In the months before she left, her husband's beliefs had spiraled into something she says she could no longer separate from reality: hours of preaching, accusations that she wasn't cooperating, and a demand that she help "save the planet." The night he told her he might need to kill her to get what was inside her, she lay still for five hours, then walked out the front door at dawn and called the sister she hadn't spoken to in a year. Leaving wasn't the end. She talks about months of threats, a visit from the FBI, the PTSD and panic attacks that got worse before they got better, and why she says "why didn't you just leave?" is the wrong question. Then comes the part nobody warns you about: divorcing a man no one will help you find, including a newspaper ad. Somatic therapy, and what it did for her, is a conversation for next time.
Content note: this episode includes discussion of psychological abuse, threats of violence, and PTSD.