Were you in the relationship for what it was or what you wanted it to be?
When things are going up it's great. But it soon peaks...on the way down you remember that they were once good and perhaps will be so again, so you wait. It hits bottom and your patience pays off, the relationship takes a turn upward. Yipee!! After this happens once a cycle will inevitably creep into your life. The longer you stay on that rollercoaster the more investment you have in the relationship and the less likely you are to end things on the down swing (which pretty much means you never will...heck, you didn't end it in the beginning with the smaller investment why would you now?). After this anything can happen, abuse may occur because of the lack of consequences, fights may break out due to expectations involved in the (dysfunctional) relationship, it all depends on the people involved and their personalities.
The cycle can be exteremely reinforced. The bad slumps of the relationship are encouraged in anticipation of the highlights. It can be quite an emotional endevor and mark anotherwise lacking relationship with a bizarre passion and intesity.
This may have absolutley no relevance to your situation but I have seen it happen a few times...
I wish you all of the best in your choice...be positive and stand on your own two feet, hold your chin up, and walk tall with confidence. Even if you have to fake it for a while keep it up...it may just take. Once you got that down you may be able to end the "break" and redefine your relationship with everyones best interests in mind.