Relationship advice - girlfriend's confidence?

Am I being horrible?





Hi, I'll try and keep this as brief as possible. I've known my girlfriend for 5 years and we started going out 2 years ago. We were both never in a relationship before, as we were young. Anyway, she's had some major confidence and depression issues, and we've never quite enjoyed having a real relationship.





The problem is her sister. Her sister is 23 (I am 20 and my girlfriend is 19), and she's spent the last 7 or so years treating my girlfriend like crap. I could go on for hours talking about the sorts of things her sister does, but I'll just list a few:





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She has always called her names like fat, ugly and stupid when was actually almost anorexic at a point.


She would purposely embarass her in front of others, and make out that she's so much better than her (her being my girlfriend)


She completely controlled for years, and she was scared to even go out without her 'approval'.


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There's so much more but this would be huge if I went on. Anyway, her sister doesn't approve of me either. She goes for men that are essentially 'gangsters' and goes around stealing other people's plants and even items worth a few pence from shops...I'm nothing like that and neither is my girlfriend.





My girlfriend really wants her confidence to get better, and to stop feeling like she's always inferior to her sister, but she's having a hard time believing that she's not. I always tell her how much I love her, but she says she doesn't believe me because she doesn't see how she could be loved.





How can I help her confidence? Thanks. Note here's another version if you want more info...





http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;鈥?/a>Relationship advice - girlfriend's confidence?
communicate with her,. always give her encouraging words and don't give up! Perhaps you two get go out and do some activities together such as hiking, camping, holiday, meditation, things that will make her happy and forget all the negativity. time away from her sister will probably help. Good luck.Relationship advice - girlfriend's confidence?
First thing I'd do is get her away from her sister. When her sister objects, demand she clean up her act or you'll place a restraining order on her, because your girlfriend is suffering because of her.