Dear Craig:

If her silent treatments of you are meant to punish you (that is the definition of the term), then these are acts of aggression, the passive-aggressive kind of aggression. This is a different aspect to her behavior than “just” distorted thinking. When a person is repeatedly aggressive toward you, habitually giving you the silent treatments, the right thing for you is to end the relationship.

If these are indeed silent treatments then she has been motivated by anger, not fear, as you indicated before. Do you think you missed the anger when evaluating her motivation earlier?

anita