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4 Behaviors Keeping You Stuck In Toxic Relationship Patterns

Staying silent about things that bother you within the relationship in order to “keep the peace.”

Thought Catalog
3 min readSep 1, 2023
Elijah O’Donnell

By Molly Burford

According to Psychology Today, relationship patterns are “consistent patterns of interaction between you and your relationship partner.” While not all relationship patterns are negative, there are some relationship patterns that can be harmful and lead to unhealthy, unbalanced relationships.

Psych Central explains that we may repeat destructive patterns within our relationships for a number of reasons. For example, we may be attempting to heal relationship wounds from our past or may be creating dynamics that are familiar, such as ones we experienced growing up.

All of this said, a relationship is a two-way street and our individual behavior impacts the whole. But by taking control of our actions, we can help create a healthier, more fulfilling relationship. As such, here are four behaviors keeping you stuck in toxic relationship patterns.

1. Valuing independence over healthy attachment.

We live in a highly individualistic society that pushes the idea that independence and “not needing anyone else” are…

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