Dear SKM,<P>Your Question about damage of short-term A (less than 6 months) vs long term.<P>You are right, it depends on the circumstances although I would venture that the shorter the A, the least damage. In my case, I think it was the longer the A, the least damage. That was because when WS told CBanshee to stop after that first night of drunkeness, she blackmailed him, and he was putty in its hands. What a wimp to fall for that. Will never be able to understand that. I figure that the first few sessions are more romantic and gentle than the later ones when the violence set in. So after two years of such, CBanshee knived him for not giving in yet another time.<P>My pastor also felt that the timing was rather unique - it snapped at the time when there was nothing he could do to convince it to stop and he was at the breaking point. So the little flame turned into an inferno and he decided to put her behind bars. HE HAD TO RUN from the OW. He also did sex until he hated himself - sadly he says he feels 'so cheap, so humiliated and like a prostitute.'<P>So in a horrific way, if the banshee let him off or if he successfully broke off with it earlier, the ending, for me that is, will never be as satisfying and revealing as the public act of crime.