How do you ladies get over your bad experiences with an LVM? I've been having issues getting back on the dating scene after ending a toxic relationship 3 1/2 years ago. He was my first "real" boyfriend that I dated as a freshman in college and he was 8 years older than me. The fact that he seemed more mature than guys my age and acted like the total package made me fall hard for him. He was also attending the medical school that I was hoping to get into, so I wanted him to become a mentor figure. Long story short, he ended up being verbally abusive, controlling, and turned out to have anger management issues. Not only that, he LOVED the fact that I was an "innocent"virgin, and pushed me for sex ALL THE TIME. I didn't give into it, which he would then belittle me for. I respected myself too much to let it go on for long, so I ended it after six months. After the breakup, I had to deal with clinical depression and other mental scars for quite a while, but I picked myself up and got into the med school I was hoping to attend, while he got kicked out for having terrible grades.
I wanted to think that I was totally healed from that experience, but I find it so hard to trust men now. I've met some guys casually for lunch or coffee, but I always ended up running away because I was afraid they would be another abusive LVM hiding their true self. I'm sure a lot of women here deal with similar issues, and I'd like to get some good advice on how to really filter the rotten ones out and where I should go to meet real HVM.