I got curious, so I read some of her other work. You're right that I read her as genuine distress. I don't believe she's acting or writing malignantly. Still don't.

You bring up a fair point about not getting herself out of it. But, you're missing a key element. I kind of sensed it in her expression of despair but didn't know what it was. She's been down this road before so she's mentally trapped by past experience and hasn't recouped resources to get out from the last time.

She was married to a verbal abuser before, a guy who skated the line enough that he never behaved in a way that would trigger DV resources. This is her first relationship after that one ended. She sought help then, and was declined resources. Fortunately she had the resources to get herself out then, but it depleted her. She has 2 kids, so rebuilding that bank account is gonna take a long time. Her mistake here is not taking enough time to really heal after the first one.

So, she's settling in because she's already learned there's no help to be had. She may or may not live near family and friends. Even so, finding a place to stay is easy if its just you. It's a lot harder with kids. We're in the middle of the school year. If she moved back in with her parents, she might have to uproot them and forfeit her job. She probably doesn't have enough money to break the lease, and pay a deposit and lease a new place, and handle all the other deposits and moving costs. How long does it take you to save up $5 to 10K, depending on where you live?

I'm not a huge fan of Dr Phil, but he does have that one line about the best predictor of future behavior being past behavior that's pretty spot on. Her behavior before was to act to get out and to do so efficiently and without a lot of drama.

That tells me she'd do the same if she could, mentally and financially.

I think you're being overly hard on her because she wrote the article. You recognize the signs of depression in him and think she's trying to humiliate him. You're a sentinel of sorts, you can't abide seeing someone being kicked when they're down.

I don't think she's trying to humiliate him. I think she's in a deep deep state of despair and "screaming at the top of her lungs hoping someone will look up".
How is he humiliated if he never reads it? I'm also fairly certain she's using a moniker, so there's that added protection of anonymity.

I also think she's starting to think there's something wrong with her. She's trying not to spiral.