I think it's about confusing dependency for love. His gotten emotionally stuck and addicted to holding on to her with the only way he knows how to, through playing the old "I'm a disaster case come save me". I think subconsciously he does this because he needs to be rescued by her inorder to feel loved. That the only time, he really feels loved by her is when she is saving him. And because he is so disconnected from himself he doesn't connect that, his external circumstances are a reflection of his internal world. It is his fear of losing her, that is causing his world to spin out of control. Everyone else can see this but him.