Ex-wife regularly iterated her problems to me for hours at a time; how could I have approached this in a more healthy way?

My ex wife had bipolar disorder (type 2, officially diagnosed).

Often, she was feeling sad, upset, or depressed — sometimes about our relationship, and sometimes not — and she wanted to sit on the couch with me for hours, 2-3 times per week regularly and iterate over all her problems. Issues from her childhood, hardship with her parents, not having friends, feeling inadequate in her work, our relationship problems, medication side effects…usually one of these topics.

This wore me out, it killed my mood, and it left us both in worse emotional states than when we started.

Whenever I realized she was in a bad state, I would ask her what was wrong, tell her I loved her, give her a hug, and ask her if she wanted to go to dinner, have a bath, or have some space to herself. But often she just wanted to talk through her problems with me (have some listen and feel validated).

I feel like I shouldn’t have sat on the couch with her for hours regularly like I did. What would have been a healthier option?

Should I have listened to her for five minutes and then excused myself? Whenever I did this, she said I didn’t care about her and was basically setting a timer for her.

Should I not have even let her start? Whenever I did this, said I didn’t care and wasn’t there for her.

And if I did sit there, she would go on and on in circles for hours at a time. If she say my concentration faded even for a moment, she would say I didn’t care and wasn’t listening.

I feel like this was abusive and controlling behavior on her part?

She was an empath who absorbs the emotions of others, and she said while we were divorcing that she wanted to be with someone was empathetic like her.

I should note that she was doing therapy every week and was on medication via a psychiatrist.