“Borrowing a phrase from my clinical mentor, Reevah Simon, “Whenever there is ongoing conflict, there is underlying agreement.” In other words, it takes two to tango, and the dependent or subservient partner may not be as weak, passive, or innocent as they appear.

Well, that’s interesting. It kind of makes it sound like we choose this, by not choosing to walk away, which is the only other choice. Stay…or leave. But, in reality, there is fear and the fear can be simply paralysing. I mean, its like sitting in a car with a crazy driver going 150 mph. Are you going to open the door and jump out? You know its not going to end well. You fear crashing, but you fear jumping too, so you just keep begging him to slow down, because then everything will be ok, at least in this moment.