When I received the invitation to do this interview, I asked myself, “What could I say and why would others care?”

I often tend to downplay my own importance. Psychologists told me it was a weakness and that regaining my self-confidence would improve my constant anxiety. I’m M.D. I’m also a victim of domestic violence.

My fight for my freedom lasted seven years — I like to say, “seven damn years!” Dealing with abusers is difficult, of course, but dealing with yourself is the hardest. It was only when I left that cursed house, after many years of physical and mental trauma, that I found myself in a state of shocked disbelief and asked myself, “How did I allow this to happen?”

Maybe it was the influence of my surroundings. The rural environment imposes a sense of shame on you that’s hard to deal with, because that’s how mothers bring up their daughters. That infamous sentence, “A woman must suffer” — that killed me. No one ever told me, “Conquer the world! You’ll be a great person.” So, I never received encouragement.

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