Rather a long time ago, a man got his wife into a mental hospital, claiming she was mad - her only "crime" was to want to leave him because of his behaviour. It took her a fortnight to get herself out of there. I know personally of a husband who read this report and thought he'd be more successful. He told his wife that if she said a single word about his behaviour to anyone they knew - the vicar, the friends from the golf-club, the neighbours - she would find he had already primed them with stories of her psychoses, and they would let him know so that he would get her into the local mental hospital. He told her that even if she got out, mud would stick. She would forever be " that woman who was certified" - even if it wasn't true. If she ever left him, he was sure he'd get the children because of her "mental history". Psychological manipulation is difficult to prove, but this sort of behaviour must be counted as abuse of the worst sort, short of violence.