Stockholm syndrome is usually associated with hostages and killers. But I think it applies here, too? Check Wikipedia
Let me introduce you to Sydney and Paul*. Sydney is my friend, assigned female at birth, uses she/her. She has a university life going on. Paul is most likely also AFAB and also uses she/her for this story. They met on Roblox, in Ragdoll Engine, which, if you know, you know.
Both of them were catfishing as guys. That detail matters, I think.
Their relationship is cold, toxic, and controlling in both directions. They delete everyone else from their friend lists. Adding someone new starts a fight. Doing basically anything starts a fight. At some point, the arguments got bad enough that Sydney started self-harming.
And yet every 3 to 7 days, Sydney shows up in my DMs, crying about Paul, regretting everything. Then goes back to talking to Paul anyway.
I've told her how bad this is. I've tried banning Paul from our server. Sydney talked me out of it and tried to manipulate me. I understood exactly what she was doing, and I still let it happen. Eventually, I drew a line: one more argument in 3 days, and Paul gets banned. They lasted 5 days. Progress, technically.
Paul stalks through alt accounts and mutual friends whenever Sydney tries to leave. And somehow Sydney feels empathy for her.
That's the part I can't get out of my head. I'm completely hopeless, and I can't do anything about it.
*Names in this article aren't the real names of both characters involved in this history