Ever wondered what makes toxic relationships so destructive? For one, it’s their undoubtable effect on your mental health. In this article, we’re showing you how walking away from and ending toxic relationships can help ease your anxiety. Find out why!
How Ending Toxic Relationships Can Help Your Anxiety
At one point or another, we’ve all likely been in toxic relationships. Let’s start by giving the toxic relationships definition if you’re unsure of what constitutes one. Dr. Lillian Glass, who coined the term, defined toxic relationships as any relationship where “[people] don’t support each other, where there’s conflict, and one seeks to undermine the other, where there’s competition, where there is disrespect and a lack of cohesiveness.”
So, if you’ve encountered something like this while dating, perhaps you can turn to dating sites to be able to screen potential matches for signs of toxicity before moving forward with the dating process. However, in this article we’re going to explore how ending toxic relationships can help ease your anxiety and give you a sense of peace. So, let’s get started!
Toxic relationships signs
First off, let’s explore the telltale signs of toxic relationships. As you can likely extrapolate from Dr. Glass’ definition, toxic relationships are characterized by:
- Lack of support
- Resentment
- Controlling behaviors
- Disrespect
- Feelings of “walking on eggshells”
- Irrational jealousy
- Constant judgement
- An “all take, no give” attitude from your partner
- Unreasonable demands
- Feeling drained, depressed, and emotionally unwell
Sounds familiar? If your relationship checks three or more of the above characteristics, it’s more than likely that it falls under the category of toxic relationships. So, what can you do to move beyond this situation, and how can this help your anxiety?
Before getting into details, we recommend that you consult with a professional who can help you reap the benefits of therapy and understand how toxic relationships affect your mental health.
How can ending toxic relationships improve your mental health?
You’d be surprised at the benefits that come with ending a toxic relationship. By choosing to do so, you will:
- Feel less stressed because you won’t have to deal with contentious situations anymore
- Have more time to dedicate to your hobbies and tend to your social circle, which will help you regain your sense of self and community
- Have the opportunity to evaluate what led you to enter a toxic relationship, your behavior while in it, and how you can improve your future relationships through the lessons you’ve learned
Conclusion
It’s easy to find yourself in toxic relationships and by no fault of your own. What matters is that you acknowledge the situation you’re in and take matters into your hands so that you extract yourself from it with as little mental damage as possible. In this article, we’ve shown how ending toxic relationships can help you feel better. We hope that you take our advice to heart and decide to do what’s best for you and move on with your life!
Let us know in the comments: have you ever been in a toxic relationship? If so, how did you manage to end it, and how did you feel afterward?
About the Writer: Rebecca Shinn is a freelance writer and dating and relationship expert with a psychology degree. Her field of expertise is relationship, dating, and marriage. The important part of Rebecca’s practice is to help couples with communication skills, problem-solving skills, stress management, or financial skills. Rebecca started writing 2 years ago to inspire and help people to have a better dating life, healthy relationships, or find a way to keep a marriage strong for long years.