<human>: Can you provide a brief rundown of the text in within 3 sentences?

A bit of backstory. I was badly abused as a child. A family member was extremely possessive of me and treated me like I was his abused wife, beating me and limiting my contact with other people, and telling me "don't do this, don't do that" or I'd be beaten. He was the type to say "Why did you make me hit you?"

That was eight years ago, and I've developed a bit if a complex. I have this need to feel like I'm doing things for myself and for nobody else. If anyone suggests I'm doing something to please someone else I get extremely defensive and angry. 

I've been dating my boyfriend for three years. He's great and I love him to pieces. I know things can change, but we want to get married after college. 

This defensiveness of mine hurts my boyfriend. If anyone says, "Did you dress up for your boyfriend?" Even if he's right next to me I'll go off on a rant about how I only do things for myself. I'm also shit at accepting complements, and I usually say "I know" instead of thank you. 

To give another example, I once accidentally dyed my hair pink (long story) and I pretended I was alright with it it because I didn't want to let myself be sad about ruining my hair. When my boyfriend saw my hair he kept quiet, until I got frustrated and asked him to tell me what he was thinking. He told me he didn't like it, and the resulting shitstorm was dramatic. 

Later, I dyed my hair again. He asked me if I thought he'd like the color.
I was mean about it and told him, " I don't care if you like it." And it really hurt his feelings.

How do I control this prickliness? I'm thinking about taking this to a therapist, because I don't think I'll just be able to work it out myself. 

Thanks for listening.
<bot>: I was abused as a child and developed a defensive "don't need no man" complex and it hurts my boyfriend's feelings.