Unhealthy Relationships

Many things can make a relationship unhealthy. A relationship may be unhealthy if …

• During arguments or disagreements, one of you forces your opinion on the other and/or there is yelling, swearing, and possible physical violence (hitting, shoving, etc.)

• You spend all of your time together, alone, and rarely spend time with other friends and family.

• There is little respect for what you or your partner likes or dislikes.

• One person forces or pressures the other to do things that he or she doesn’t want to do, or is uncomfortable doing.

• One person must know where their partner is at all times. This may even lead to checking the other person’s phone or e-mails without permission in order to find out what they’ve been doing.

• You or your partner feel the need to lie, or be someone you are not, for fear that your partner may leave or react badly.

• One or both partners feel that they cannot trust one another.

Unhealthy relationships only need one of these things to make it unhealthy. They are often unbalanced where one person has more control, or gets more benefit than the other. Unhealthy relationships make you feel unsafe, insecure, and/or disrespected. One or both people in an unhealthy relationship tend to have a low self-esteem, are jealous, and a fear of abandonment.