Isolation also makes it more difficult for the target of the abuse to get help or support. We may be (as I have been) stuck in the middle of Nowhere, USA with no access to media, no phone, no transportation unless we rely on the abuser for it. No escape, and no way to call anybody to come and rescue us.

The next step is to train us to think this is a good setup, and we don't need rescuing. The less we see of other people, the less we have to compare our situation to. We get to thinking the behavior we're being subjected to really is normal. If we believe every man/woman is like that, and it's just what they do, then why would we even try to leave? We might as well stay, if every relationship we could ever have is going to be the same.

But it isn't normal behavior. Every man/woman is NOT like that. And this is what the abuser doesn't want us to know.