Bad news and hard words for a Friend

I spoke to a friend of mine today, he had some bad news. He asked his wife of 21 years if she would be happy if he disappeared. She said that the majority of her stress and problems in life would be greatly diminished if he just disappeared. Surprised at her statement, he then proceeded to inquire, at his own peril I might add, as to what else was wrong. It seems that for the last 25 years since they have know each other he has been the cause of eveything bad that has happened to her and she blames him for eveything that has gone wrong if her life. There seems to be nothing good or happy that he can account for according to her view of history. Needless to say he was very devastated by this news and the length that this has gone on. How does one react to this type of news? If a stranger or someone you hardly know says something like this to you then you can take a statement like this with a grain of salt. But if your wife says this to you then there is a certain amount of reflection that takes place. First of all the truth may be that you are not responsible for all of her misery and she may be mentally ill of dangerously unbalanced. This is very little consolation because it really doesn't matter what you believe, it is that she believes it to be true. There is no judge or jury that would convict you but the person who's opinion that matters the most won't be changed. You are the problem, you always have been the problem and there is nothing you can do to defend yourself or prove otherwise. Now what do you do? I told him you have some choices to make. Option one is to stay and hope things get better, maybe she will realize how ill she is and get some help. Option two is to pack you bags, leave and start over somewhere else before you die. The third option is to disappear courtsey of your new best friend, Mr. Smith and Wesson.