Do you think there is ever a good reason to stay in an abusive relationship?

NONE, especially if there are children involved. By remaining, you expose yourself to needless danger...and if there are kids, they see the violence and potentially experience that same danger. There are no reasons to stay....ever! Find help, get out. I know you're afraid...but long term you will be glad you got out and opened up your life to greater chance of finding a better relationship.

Might not be the insightful answer you were looking for but, no, not under any circumstances.

None!

no , it will chip away at you and if you stay you end up a shell of your former self

Short answer - NO

~Absolutely not. But then again everyone is different and for some it is all they know and fear of the unknown keeps them from leaving.

No one can honestly answer this unless they have been in the situation.

When you are in an abusive relationship, common sense is gone. A women is beaten to the point of not having any self-esteem. The first time I got hit, I was shocked. The hit hurt me but the hurt inside was engulfing. Of course, the apologies come and little by little you lose the ability to think for youself. It's a control issue and the abusive person is controling it all.

It took me 17 years and I left. I ended up leaving for my kids. I hated that they didn't want him around or ran to their rooms when he came home from work.

I personally don't think there is a good reason to stay but by then, you have no sane reasoning in you.

In my case, I was lucky enough to start suffering with anxiety attacks when ever he was near me... I'm sure not many people would consider it lucky but that's what gave me a way to take care of me and realize that I can make my own decisions. 17 years later.

No, but we've had women with their kids on the "run" here. They've literally come with NOTHING but the clothes that they and their kids are wearing. I can imagine how making a decision to do that, especially with kids could be as terrifying as staying in an abusive, yet KNOWN situation. These women are traumatized and scared to death. They usually have NO access to money. They need help to make that break. There are women's shelters everywhere...maybe YOU and YOU, could volunteer or contribute items they and their children have have need of.

I have learned that we can say what we might do in a certain situation but...unless we've lived it...we really don't know what we'd do at all.

I was in an abusive relationship, a really bad one. He held me against my will, wouldn't let me leave, took my car keys, stayed at my work (when i was allowed to work) and while this only lasted a year and a few months, it seemed like eternity. This was the only reason why i was still with him, because i wasn't able to leave without him there. So NO there is never a good reason to stay in an abusive relationship. Even if there are children between the couple, the more reason to leave and get the children far away from that situation!!!!

I don't think there is ever a good reason to stay in an abusive relationship. The problem is that when you are in one, it always seems like there is a good reason to stay. And it's not like everyone can just walk out and leave with no planning. Some of these things can be very big obstacles to leaving:

-Not having a place to go
-Not having a car to get around
-Not having access to enough money to take care of yourself/your kids
-Wondering if he'll find you and kill you if you leave
-Abusers making threats regarding children. Like threatening to harm them or to take them away and never let you see them, or threatening to take you to court and get custody of them.

There are other reasons people stay, but the ones above make sense to me, and I sympathize with people who are in those situations.

Some of the reasons that I think are total crap are, "Maybe he will change, maybe if I behave differently it won't happen again, it doesn't happen that often and the rest of the time things are ok, I love him, I can't imagine life without him, I don't want to make things hard on him, he is the best I can do, etc." Every time I hear these reasons, or ones like them, I just want to scream at the abused spouse and tell her to put on her big girl pants and quit bawling. I don't though. Must. remain. sympathetic. The thing is, I've been there and these "crap" reasons were my reasons for staying. I didn't realize how much BS I'd been feeding myself until later.

No there is never a good reason to stay, alot of times us women make excuses of reasons to stay because we are scared of what will happen if we leave them. But you should never stay.There is always a way out.

Yes, if you are a masochist.

I wish I had more to say but the answer is always
NO NO NO

NO!

yea if you are a maschocist fight back then get the hell out

No, it's not worth it but sometimes people are blinded by a false reality or fantasy and think, it will get better. But it won't. And if it is gonna get better, both have to really trust each other again, not to get hurt anymore and it can be a very long and hard way...but when there's love involved, it should be possible. If not, better leave it!

I think it depends on the type of abuse and the individual's reasons for staying.

If the abuse is physical, then get out!

But if it's verbal? Well, how good are you at responding to and warding off verbal attacks? How's your self-esteem, does verbal abuse even have any effect on you? My self-esteem's pretty high and verbal attacks go in one ear and right out the other.

Why are you staying? Is it just temporary until your kids are grown and out of the house because you know you wouldn't get much, if anything, in the way of child support, and if you left, you'd have to raise your kids in a "bad" neighborhood, and don't want to risk exposing them to that?

Are you just staying long enough to finish your college degree so you can support yourself and your children?

We don't always get to do what we want. Sometimes we make decisions based on what we believe we HAVE to do.

Sure...if you are enjoying the abuse!!! But otherwise, NO