 Toxic relationships can be found in either family relationships, friendships, and toxic romantic partners. Do you suspect you might be in a toxic relationship right now? Or perhaps someone you know is in one? If so, we made this video to help you recognize the toxic effects of bad relationships. If you're currently in a toxic relationship or know someone who is, you consider sharing this video to help raise awareness. Now let's get into the video. 1. Toxic relationships make you more guarded. Life lessons, be it good or bad, help us learn something. In this case, your experiences with toxic relationships may make you wearier and more suspicious of others. You're afraid that getting close to people will open you up to hurt, so you guard your feelings with a wall. Ironically, you might end up getting hurt because you find it hard to trust anyone. 2. Toxic relationships breed negativity. How happy do you feel in your relationship? It's hard to be happy when you're in a toxic relationship, feeling like there's a dark rain cloud following you wherever you go. You're constantly feeling down or in a bad mood because negative emotions can be contagious and may rub off on you. 3. Toxic relationships make you more pessimistic. If only we could employ out of sight, out of mind, to toxicity. Too bad we can't. Toxic relationships can alter your views in life even after they've ended. You used to be optimistic and joyful, but now you've become anxious, fearful and cynical. This makes you more distant from those around you. 4. Toxic relationships emotionally exhaust you. Do you feel like you've climbed a mountain but all you did was spend time with someone? Emotional drainage happens in toxic relationships because so much time and energy is spent catering to the other person at your expense. You feel anxious and stressed out whenever you spend time with this person because they might be narcissistic, overly critical of you, or they make everything all about them. Just being in the same room with them is exhausting. 5. Toxic relationships destroy your self-esteem. Our relationships with others and the way they treat us provides an important foundation for our self-image. So when you're in a toxic relationship with someone who doesn't care about you, it's hard not to feel bad about yourself. You're constantly denied the love, support and reassurance you deserve. You lose confidence, stop believing in yourself, and struggle to feel a sense of self-worth when you're in a toxic relationship. 6. Toxic relationships hinder your personal growth. You have a hard time answering questions like, who are you as a person? This is because you may not have a concrete sense of yourself, and when one person constantly tries to control and dominate you, they wear you down until you figure you're not worthy of getting what you want. This makes you believe that you need them and are nothing without them. So you never think or form anything for yourself. 7. Toxic relationships distort your idea of a healthy relationship. One of the most damaging effects of a toxic relationship is convincing you that you deserve it. Being mistreated and taken advantage of by someone you cared so much about distorts your idea of what a relationship should be like. This results in you seeking similarly harmful and dysfunctional relationships. Over time, this harmful setting is normalized and you find it hard to recognize when a happy healthy relationship comes along. 8. Toxic relationships negatively affect your entire health. Are you getting sick more often? Do headaches occur more often? These are physical signs of toxic relationships. Studies show that given the stress and anxiety experienced, toxic relationships often result in a greater risk of serious health factors such as weakened immune system, higher blood pressure, and even heart problems. There are also common reports of low energy and fatigue. Sometimes, even when we recognize the signs, we simply feel too emotionally invested to leave the toxic relationship. However, the toll on you for staying is very steep and may cause long-lasting scars. Do you see any of these effects on yourself or others? Are you working on undoing the damage of any of these? Let us know in the comments below. Don't forget to like this video and subscribe to Psych2Go for more psychology content. Thanks for watching and we'll see you soon.