Why do women stay with their abusers?

[WillowTree]

34. Partly because when they're not being abusive, they're often very charming.

In fact, that's how they get a woman hooked. They start out being so charming, SO loving. They can keep that façade up until the woman is sufficiently invested in the relationship that, when he cries and says he's sooooooo sorry and how it'll never happen again, she needs to believe it. So she lets herself believe and he's charming again.......for awhile. But it plays out over and over until not only is she heavily invested (and, perhaps has a couple of his kids), but her self esteem is so worn down that she doesn't have enough of herself left to walk away.

It becomes a cycle that she can't stop until one day, if she's lucky, she either manages to get pissed off enough to chance leaving or a switch gets flipped and she realizes that she's worthy of a better life. Or until he kills her.

I know.