My husband is the only kid. His mother is extremely mean to him. How can we handle the situation?

My husband is the only child. He is an engineer by training and has many years of experience. His parents have been running a restaurant for almost 30 years.

Although he is the only child, his parents have always been pretty mean and bossy over the son, especially his mom. She is mean to one and all, berates people, including employees at the work place.

My husband had left home and had stopped talking to his parents for 5 years. This happened over an argument. He then wrote a letter to his mother expressing his agony and what needed to be discussed and sorted out. His mother shared the letter with the whole world. When she was told that she ought not to have shown the letter to people, she got mad and asked him to leave home. He left.

A little over 2 years ago, my husband lost his job. He called home and apologized for not talking to them for so long and told his parents about his situation. Parents told him to come home and work in the family restaurant. They told him that they would like to retire and that my husband should inherit the business.

They have been extremely mean to him ever since he has returned home, especially his mom. They make him work like a donkey in the kitchen and blame him saying that he is not eager to learn anything about the business. When they are told that he would like to learn, there is no definite answer. As the restaurant is extremely understaffed, my husband has to often skip meals. No suggestions are taken in any good spirit. His mom would often look for excuses (baseless) and ask him to leave. She would often tell him that he should be thankful that he has a job. She would also keep mentioning that she is the "BOSS" and that he must listen to her no matter what.

Mostly my husband feels that they are trying to make him frustrated and fed up, that they are doing it to spite him and punish him for not talking to them for 5 years. His mom has mentioned that she is still hurting from the time that he was not talking to them. She feels that only they are hurt and not my husband.

We got married just over a year ago and I came to join my husband just a few months ago. My in-laws want me to work in the restaurant. However, my husband has made it clear to his parents that I will not work as long as his mom is still working in the restaurant. She has asked me twice to come and help.

From being chewed at on a daily basis, on being berated for no rhyme or reason, my husband is almost on the verge of having a nervous breakdown. They blame him for everything which is totally wrong. Both parents keep saying he is not capable of running the restaurant which is not true. The fact of the matter is that he can do a very good job and all the employees love him and listen to him and his systematic ways.

My husband feels that his parents have no intentions of handing over the business to him from the way things are running. They are not showing any interest in making him learn anything besides cooking in the kitchen (which he already know from 20 years as he had been working in the restaurant since he was 20.

He fears that when he looks for a new job elsewhere, his parents will mess up if the new employer has to call them for reference. He also fears that since he has not been working for the last 2 years+ in the industry, he might not get a good job.

He is very depressed and often doe not sleep as he is too anxious. He dreads going to work every single morning and it breaks my heart to see him like that. He is very gentle and polite. He does not drink or smoke and is a peace loving person who is currently crumbling because of the treatment he is getting from his parents. He feels that he is not treated like a son but as a rival counterpart.

I am not working though I am looking for a job. We do not have health insurance though my husband was promised by his parents. He is denied the insurance since he has psychiatric history in his past insurance. His father does not feel that he needs any psychiatric help.

We can't afford to get insurance ourselves at this point as he doe not earn enough to be able to pay for health insurance.

What is the best solution? Please help.