That was indeed what she said (if I've remembered rightly) which are fair comments. I think we've read the article with a different tone and interpreted it differently. To me the tone felt insincere... not of someone being held underwater but of someone choosing to remain underwater.

I can believe she's trapped in the lease, landlords are dickheads like that. I won't believe she's trapped in a house with him - there are other places she could be, family, friends etc. People often suffer in silence in terrible relationships and deceive themselves they are fine - she is aware the relationship is terrible but can identify no other solution but riding it out and getting more ill. No other solution at all? Nothing?

It didn't read it as desperation because desperate people don't normally stop to structure their thoughts in such a compelling way - I'm not convinced the author tried everything to escape and believe there's an element of choice to remain, a complex psychological reward for 'struggling through despite him' which gives her high social proof, very high if the applause on this article is anything to go by. I've seen this dynamic many times before across the course of my social work and it very much plays into an existing trope that a failed relationship can always be levelled at one person whilst the other is faultless. I don't buy it professionally outside of extreme emotional/domestic abuse cases - and I won't buy it on Medium either.