Is 'man-keeping' draining your relationships?

  Is 'man-keeping' draining your relationships? (Photo: iStock)

He says that you are the only person he can talk to and that he feels safe with you. He says that no one has ever listened to him the way you do. At first, you smile and take it as a compliment. You think, “Finally, someone who is emotionally open.”

But then the floodgates open: childhood trauma, work pressure and unprocessed grief. His anxiety, his ex, his mother, his self-hatred and his avoidance of therapy. You sit there, nodding, offering reassurance and advice. You tell him he needs help, but he just laughs. “I don’t need therapy. I have you.”