Passive-Aggressive Emotional Abuse: Or, what I call (DCS) dangling the carrot syndrome. As most women hear what they want to hear they miss those subtle adverbs a man tosses in the conversation. For example: Say you are involved with someone who lives some distance from you and during one of your communications he says "I plan on coming to see you" . Do not go out and buy new bath towels because he is not telling you that a trip is definite. He is only thinking about it in a most obscure way and is not to be taken seriously. Now, if he add to that "at some point" or "sometime" and with further probing on your part can not commit to some kind of timeframe then hang up the phone and/or block him from your email address. The guy is DCS big time.

So how do you get from "I plan" to "I am"? Women would be well advised to notice the words he uses and the actions he takes. Men are known for taking one big step forward then nearly immediately taking a few steps backward. It is in their nature. I believe they can not help themselves.

The next step is to understand that he will not be with a woman he does not see his future with. By that I mean if he does not see you as the mother of his children, his partner in crime, his equal he most likely will find a way to back out of the relationship completely at some point. And not because he is being mean spirited. And not because he does not like you. He may even offer to stay friends. And, most likely he'll mean it!

Men play games. Not that women do not but men are really good at it. And, if you don't pick up on his subtle clues you just might be left holding the bag. A bag filled with your broken heart.