A toxic relationship is characterized by a person’s behavior within the relationship that is both emotionally and physically harmful to their partner. An example of toxic behavior in relationships is when the relationship stops bringing you joy and instead consistently makes you feel sad, angry, or anxious. People in these kinds of relationships that are on the receiving end of the toxicity are often envious of happy couples. As an addiction and mental illness treatment center in Florida, we understand how toxic relationships affect your mental health and overall wellbeing. We’re sharing some common signs of these relationships and the harm they can cause.
What Are Signs of a Toxic Relationship?
A toxic relationship may make you feel unsupported, sad, misunderstood, attacked, or demeaned. Any relationship that makes you feel worse than good can become more toxic over time. Toxic relationships can exist between friends, spouses, family, students and teachers, and virtually in any kind of relationship between two or more people. These kinds of relationships threaten your physical, emotional, and psychological well-being, creating problems in other areas of your life.
Only the people in the relationship can tell if the bad outweighs the good. However, if someone is constantly threatening your well-being by their actions, words, or lack thereof, then you may be in a toxic relationship. Toxicity in a relationship relates to physical, verbal, or emotional abuse. Some common signs of a toxic relationship include:
- Putting more into the relationship than you’re getting, which makes you feel unappreciated and devalued
- Feeling disrespected or unloved
- Your needs are never met
- You are misunderstood or constantly attacked
- Feeling angry, depressed, or exhausted after being with the other person
- You are not your best self when you’re around that person (they may influence you to gossip or treat others badly)
- You bring out the worst in each other
- Walking on eggshells or watching your words and actions when you’re around this person to avoid their abuse
- Spending a lot of time and strength trying to make the other person happy
- Constantly put the other person’s needs before your own, even if it’s harmful to you
- Your partner always blames you for anything even if it wasn’t your fault
Toxic behavior and trauma are often linked. If these indicators of a toxic relationship are present in your life, ask for help. Many individuals have experienced an immense amount of trauma because they didn’t know who to turn to. If you’re struggling with your mental health or other issues related to trauma from a toxic relationship, we can help. Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches offers trauma recovery treatment that includes step-by-step therapy sessions with a licensed professional. We can help you change your life for the better.
What Are the Long-Term Effects of Toxic Relationships on Mental Health?
Some examples of toxic behavior include insecurity, jealousy, negativity, selfishness, distrust, and abuse. When these problems take root in a relationship, they create a domino effect of abuse and ugly behavior. A toxic relationship can occur in even the happiest of relationships, and usually start small and worsen over time. Many people experience trauma at the hands of their toxic loved ones, leading to problems like depression and addiction.
Toxic relationships and mental health are connected for many reasons. For one, people with mental disorders like bipolar disorder and depression are more vulnerable to toxic relationships because they’re usually more sensitive to negative emotions. These individuals are often easy targets for toxic people who harm without considering the consequences of their behavior. Toxic people will take advantage of someone who may not have as tight of a grip on their emotional and mental stability. However, while this is common, toxic people can affect anyone.
Being in a toxic long-term relationship can do serious damage to your mental health. For example, a woman who’s been in a toxic relationship with her boyfriend or husband for years may have experienced an intense amount of physical, verbal, and emotional abuse. This abuse can lead to codependency, depression, and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She may become depressed and believe that she’s worthless or unloved. Even if this woman does get out of this relationship, it may take her a while to let other people into her life and be trusting of others. Many of these individuals become suicidal because they’re overwhelmed with the negative emotions and trauma that came out of the relationship. Most individuals who get out of toxic relationships receive mental health treatment to help them carve a happy life for themselves.
Toxic relationships are heartbreaking and can result in problems worse than death. The best way to help someone with a mental illness is to find professional care. If you’re struggling with mental illness or know someone who is, BHOPB offers several mental health programs for conditions like depression, anxiety, trauma, bipolar disorder, and more. We know how toxic relationships affect your mental health and we want to help as many people as we can. Call us now at 561-220-3981 to learn more about our mental health and addiction services.
