 Do you often notice your relationships don't turn out the best? Perhaps the wrong partner keeps gravitating towards you, or maybe you miss out on seeing when the right one is right in front of you. Maybe you suspect your partner is suffering from toxic attachment. Toxic attachment is characterized by behaviors like jealousy, manipulation, dominance, selfishness, and desperation. Whatever the reason for your relationship troubles, it's best to know the signs of a toxic relationship and their patterns. So to help you identify your relationship as a toxic one, here are six toxic relationship patterns you need to look out for. Number one, being too dependent. It's important to nurture a healthy relationship, but it shouldn't be the only focus in your life. We all should care about our partner, but it can be unhealthy if your partner always needs you to be around. You and your partner should be comfortable going out every now and then without each other. If you always check your partner's plans to see if they're available, even if you are the only one invited, you should take a moment to see if you're too dependent on the other. It's important to respect each other when your partner needs some alone time. Number two, being too independent. Just as someone can be too dependent, someone can also be too independent. Is your partner often aloof and detached around you? Do they barely spend time with you? And when they do, do they always pick where to eat or where to go out on a date? What about the big decisions in your relationship? Who guides them and makes them? It's a key point that both of you have a say in where the relationship goes. Your core value should be similar, if not the same. And choices as a couple should be a team effort and decision. If your partner always insists things be their way or they act as if they have power over you, you could be in a toxic relationship. Number three, manipulation. Does your partner play with your emotions to get what they want? They may be using a form of manipulation such as emotional coercion. Emotional coercion is when someone uses emotions such as guilt, grief, anger or happiness to get what they want from you. They do this with no regard to others' feelings, only their own. Someone can manipulate you through a series of seemingly small steps until you soon adapt to them. Sooner or later, the steps will be a lot larger but you'll have gotten used to them through the gradual approach your partner may have used. If you think your partner is manipulating you, it's best to get out of the relationship and seek help and comfort from your family or friends. There are people who unfortunately suffer from these toxic relationships but it is possible to get out, heal and move on to a healthy relationship. Number four, merging identities. Do you find yourself abandoning your solo hobbies to instead only do things you both like as a couple? Do you find yourself losing your own personal friends due to only choosing to hang out with the friends that you and your partner share as a couple? You may even find your individual identity slipping away. You and your partner may be merging identities and this pattern can be very toxic. It's important that our individual identity outside of our romantic partner still thrives. You shouldn't try to change your personality or self to the point that you're no longer you. You can both exist outside of couple status. It's important to remember that no matter how alike we may be to someone, we will always think, behave and act unique to ourselves. We are each unique and shouldn't try to change what makes us us. Number five, selfishness and making demands. Does your partner always make things about them? Do they act selfishly and make demands of you? Maybe lately you've been feeling as if they assert power over you. Nobody should have all the power in a relationship and a good partner cares about the other's needs as well as their own. Maybe your partner often ignores your desires and things only of their own. Perhaps you really enjoy going out on romantic dates every now and then, nothing too fancy, but you notice your partner always shuts down any form of romance that you enjoy. Instead, they want only what they like. Maybe it's the opposite and your partner always demands you get them gifts or do them favors, but they never think to do the same for you. It's important to recognize these patterns before you lose your sense of self. There are plenty of fish in the sea. Perhaps you'll meet one who isn't as self fish. See what I did there. And number six, confusing love with emotional hunger. Are you in love or are you just emotionally hungry? We may think that we're in love with someone, but it may be that instead we're suffering from emotional hunger. Emotional hunger can be caused by deprivation and childhood. And those who suffer from emotional hunger usually look to fill a void or emptiness in themselves. They often try to fill this emotional void in their relationships. If you started your relationship out of desperation and only had attention and affection in mind, it's best to evaluate if that desire is being mistaken as true love. Remember, it's best to form a strong identity outside of your relationship as well. You are your own individual. It's important that you don't both fully depend on each other for everything and that you aren't so independent from each other that you don't think of your partner's needs at all. So if you recognize your relationship is off balanced and toxic, it's probably in your best interest to bring it to an end. Choose to look for love that plays on an equal playing field. You may even need to work on your relationship with yourself before moving on to a new one. But just know it is possible to find a love that is fair and true, as long as there's still being them and you still being you. So have you experienced any of these toxic relationship patterns? If so, how will you break it to your partner that something needs to change or how will you let them go? Feel free to share in the comments. We're always here to support you. If you found this video helpful, don't forget to click the like button and share this video with someone who you might think is suffering from a toxic relationship. Subscribe to Psych2Go and hit the notification bell icon for more content like this. As always, thanks for watching and we'll see you soon.