Signs Of A Toxic Relationship

A relationship is where two people are connected emotionally and when this connection starts hurting each other, where frequent lies and insecurity takes place, a relationship where people don’t support each other, where there is conflict, competition and one seem to undermine the other, in no time it turns into a toxic relationship. A toxic relationship can cause massive breakage to people, families, and the workplace. Things that may seem sweet and feel like forever may turn sour and come to the verge of ending when toxicity takes over. A relationship is first formed, then it grows, evolves, changes, and at times they burn and crash causing some serious or lasting damage. You never know when a person starts showing their bad habits that might become impossible to be taken, when lies and unfaithful means enter your relationship and turn it out into toxic. So what does a toxic relationship look like? Here are some signs of a toxic relationship.

Controlling behavior:

Where are you going, with whom and why? There is a thin line between being protective and being toxic. If someone is telling you what is right, needing to know everything and anything you do or with whom you are, separating you from your close ones, requiring access to your personal devices; when a person snatches your freedom, freedom to live your life in your own terms and conditions, it may be termed as toxic. You will know when a person is being protective and when that person is turning toxic and controlling you. There is care when a person is trying to protect and control when being toxic.

More and more lies:

Even a small lie can create havoc, and it can even erode credibility over time. For any kind of relationship to be healthy it needs honesty, and if someone very close to you lies, it may mean that they don’t respect you as their close ones who deserve honesty. In a toxic relationship, there will be more lies than honesty that can create that emptiness and when this happens the base of the relationship gets destroyed, and slowly it destroys the relationship as a whole.

Lack of trust:

Without trust, no relationship can last long. Be it a romantic relationship, you rely on your partner, you feel free to be vulnerable and this takes place in the presence of trust. The lack of trust can shatter any relationship and turn it into dust. A toxic relationship is one where there is lack of trust.

Feelings are suppressed so needs:

In a toxic relationship, the needs of one person get sacrificed, it means a lot of sacrifices only from one end. A person may feel like they have to forfeit their voice, opinions, wishes, wants, and needs. Connection, appreciation, love, and affection are important needs in a relationship but when these needs are ignored these unmet needs create a hole or emptiness in the relationship. If your attempts to discuss or convey your needs result in an argument, an empty promise, insecurity, jealousy, or accusations of being needy, you will end up burying those needs or there will be bitterness and these relationships will or already have turned out to be toxic.

Upsetting yourself just to please them:

In a relationship where one person is making all the efforts, the only one who tries to contact the first, whose conversation is interrupted or cut in between, who does more labor than the other in terms of the contribution to the household or relationship. If it is consistently revolving around what makes the other person happy, it will get toxic in some time. Being considerate to your loved ones is completely fine but if you have to say no to yourself just to say yes to them and make them happy, you have forgotten to set boundaries and this can be a sign of a toxic relationship.

Passive aggression:

Passive aggression is a behavior to indirectly attack and a cowardly move to control that includes silent behavior and this toxicity takes away your capability to respond to the issues or to deal with them directly. There are manipulations and you are not being able to respond to it or raise your voice for anything you find is not right as you have to face passive aggression and it even makes it difficult for the person to talk about it, letting them suffer in silence. And when you have to suffer in silence it is a sign of a toxic relationship.

Physical or verbal abuse:

If a relationship has reached this stage, toxicity was taking place before you could realize it. If this happens you know that it is a toxic relationship.

Other signs of a toxic relationship are playing a blame game where you are more focused to blame each other than correcting the mistake, emotionally abusing where you have been blackmailed emotionally to do something you don’t want to, jealousy of each other’s growth, etc.

These are some of the signs of a toxic relationship and some signs of a toxic relationship can be hard to identify.

If you need any help either to understand if you are in a toxic relationship or to deal with a toxic relationship, take help from a psychologist or a therapist.

Recommending Psychologists and Therapists are:

1. Life Coach Steffi Prasad - Psychologist & Therapists - Utopia Life Coach in Siliguri, West Bengal, India.

www.steffiprasad.com

2. Khusboo Tomar - Psychologist: Centre for Forensic & Clinical Psychology