Top 5 Reasons Women Stay With Mr. Wrong

We've all been there: we're considering ending a relationship that we realize has no future, and before we know it, we've been "considering" it for months, maybe even years, with no sign of actually taking the action required to dissolve the doomed partnership and move on. It's a cycle of complacency that most women - and plenty of men - find themselves trapped in at least once in their lives. Contemplate breaking up, put it off...contemplate breaking up, put it off...contemplate breaking up, put it off...

You get the picture, and it's not a pretty one. Despite clearly knowing that things are over with Mr. Not-Right-Not-Right-Now-Not-Ever, we often find ourselves procrastinating when it comes to breaking up, instead allowing ourselves to wallow unhealthily in a dead-end relationship. According to a host of relationship experts, these are the top 5 reasons women stay with men they're no longer interested in:

1. Influence from her family. Experts believe that a woman's predilection for going after men who are not right for her has a lot to do with her upbringing as a child. Our beliefs and behaviors are shaped by what we observe as children, so when we become adults we tend to fall back on the behavior patterns we learned when we were young. A child of parents who do not give her the love, affection, and attention she needs is likely to be attracted to men who also do not meet her emotional needs. Though a relationship with that kind of man will never make her happy, she finds herself seeking them out because it feels comfortable and familiar. She settles for less than what she wants and needs because it's all she feels she deserves.
2. She fears being alone. The archaic concept of the "spinster" still haunts many women, though it is clearly outdated and destructive. A woman who has internalized the idea that she needs a man to take care of her will stay in a bad relationship out of a misguided sense of self-preservation, to avoid the "terrifying" prospect of being alone.
3. She falsely believes that her partner "needs" her. Everyone likes to feel needed, but women often seem to be especially susceptible to an addiction to the feeling of being indispensable. Women have a tendency to equate selflessness with over-giving, even when their partner doesn't give anything in return, and call it "love" when it's really "dependency." A woman who thinks that a man's life will change in a negative way if she leaves - he'll become depressed, he'll slip back into alcoholism, etc. - will remain in an unhealthy relationship because serving him makes her feel good about herself. In reality, however, she is the one who needs emotional support.

The countdown continues next time...