Fear in a person can make them do irrational things. We are not immune to fear. We all are victims of our own fears.

When I was five, my mother was too scared to interfere when my father physically abused me to the point of not being able to walk for several days. I should have been hospitalized. But even then, fear stopped my mother taking me to medical care.

In community service, I have come across a lot of people who rather stay with an abuser than to be alone.
I have heard people say to me, while brandishing a broken nose and two black eyes, "But he loves me! He cares enough to correct me".
These are twisted beliefs taken on-board to make sense of what is happening. Though, from the outside, it does not make sense.

Fear can be a powerful motive to twist one's beliefs to accommodate it. Fear is a deception that can blind people to their morals, ethics, truths, etc.

I found that the best way for me to accept those situations is to realize how my own fears have twisted my thinking in the past. Then I can identify with the insanity of it. From these realization (truths) I am better equipped to deal with it.

Hope this helps.