So in the case of the Stockholm Syndrome a normal adult may experience ironic attachment to an abuser through the sequence of terror, isolation, infantilization, denial, gratitude and attachment. Love is felt by some. A battered wife might love for similar reasons. Or, the battered wife might love her spouse because relief from punishment is so rewarding that she has learned to savor this feeling while denying the pain of physical abuse. Or, she might love qualities that are lovable and suppress any outrage in response to behaviors that are cruel.
Love is notoriously irrational, complex and paradoxical.
To regard all love in abusive relationships as a product of abuse is unhelpful and untrue. Few women and none that I have worked with as patients or clients wanted to be beaten. They were not masochistic. Because the term, masochism, exists, we seek examples to fulfill the concept. Theoretically, it is conceivable that love could be based on the aberrant attraction to a sadistic sexual partner.