The human psyche -- as any Captain Obvious can tell you -- is a complex thing. I think in the case of those suffering previous abuses, the seeking to surrender to a controlling "agent" or "entity" which protects and cares for acts as a balance to the previous abusive controllers. A similar transferral acts as a "balance" to those people who must be controlling in their job, for example, but want to submit in the bedroom. There are some people, without question, who are "born submissive" or "born dominant" -- and within those groups are the "good, the bad, and the ugly." The good come to grips with the realities, face them, and are able to establish positive relationships; the "bad" are those who cannot establish any balance and allow their "innate self" (submissive or dominant) to become destructive to themselves and others. The "ugly" I would consider those who are users -- again either submissive or dominant. They are conscious they could change their behavior/attitude/etc. to acheive a more humane emotional/psychological balance, but remain too self-centered to even try or get some assistance. These are also often the cynical who measure everyone else by their own "standard" and also measure them by the "value" of how well they can be "used" by this abusive type of person. Just my two cents worth of observation, and, again, obviously, it doesn't just apply to BDSM folk but across the human spectrum of activities and behaviors.