How do I know if I'm in a toxic relationship?

If you're the one doing all the giving, or if the other person is trying to hurt you, silence you, control you, or use you to their advantage, chances are it's a toxic relationship. There's also information on toxic relationships/relationship abuse at loveisrespect.org.

It is often hard to know when you are in a toxic relationship. Many times we are so dedicated to the person we don't see the damage they are causing. I believe it is important to always put yourself first, and believe that you know how you would like to be treated.

Think about who you are with that person. Do you like who you are when you're with them? Do you feel emotionally exhausted when you have to spend time with them? If you give up a lot of who you are and what you believe in for this other person there's a good chance that your relationship is toxic.

When you stop being happy in the relationship, and you start to be concerned about doing things that would upset your partner. It's starts to be about making the other person happy and you adjusting to them. They can criticize you a lot, blame you, control you, even patronize you. When you're nervous all the time, but you ignore it, because nothing is wrong with your partner and you're the paranoid and nagging one. There is no trust between you. When you're being hurt and they make you feel guilty. When they cut you off your friends because "you don't need them/they're bad friends". A toxic relationship doesn't need all of those mentioned above. The basic symptoms are distrust, nervousness, bad atmosphere and a lack of happiness. All you need is to reflect and to ask yourself: "Am I truly happy?".

Feeling drained, being used, getting emotionally abused and constantly having fights. Moreover, making you to be doubt at your relationship

You will know that you are in a toxic relationship when you can't be yourself. You can't express whatever you want to say or do because you're afraid that your partner might judge you or get mad at you. And your partner always makes the decision in your relationship. He just want you to follow everything. You're whole world just turns to your partner.

I believe that a toxic relationship is a relationship that makes you suffer more than it makes you happy. A relationship is supposed to bring positivity and joy into your life, of course there are times when things does not work, but if the relationship makes you suffer most of the time, it is toxic

I think the biggest sign of a toxic relationship is when you realize you care about the other person so much and you don't care about yourself at all. Your partner may not necessarily be doing anything wrong, but the relationship can still be toxic. Looking back on my toxic relationship, I remember wanting to be wherever my partner was no matter how it affected where I worked or went to school. I would be upset when my partner was seeing friends instead of spending time with me. I was constantly afraid my partner would break up with me which gave me more anxiety. My therapist at the time said something to me that I have never forgotten - she said, "If your relationship did end it would be upsetting of course, but the reality is that your world would not be over." At the time I didn't believe her. I totally thought my world would be over if the relationship ended! But over time I learned to value myself more and allow myself to have interests and goals outside of the relationship. I started putting myself first for the first time in my life, and almost immediately I began to excel in everything I did because I was finally allowing myself to do that. My partner eventually got angry that I was focusing so much more on myself all of a sudden. Eventually my partner broke up with me because I "changed." But I wasn't devastated, and to me that felt like true growth and a healthy progress. Loving yourself and taking care of yourself if so important. If you notice you are not on your priority list, start thinking about how that may be an issue for the relationship.

You know that feeling in your gut that you get when something just doesn't feel right? If the person you are with makes you feel like that, they probably aren't the right person. Fights and little spats will happen in any relationship, but you should never feel unsafe or be verbally, physically, or sexually abused.

When criticism is used as a channel to express contempt or disdain for someone else, it can make the other person feel unvalued and worthless. It’s hard for a relationship to come back from that.