How you know if you have a toxic family member?

Not all families are loving, caring, supportive and respectful. Some are really complicated. Disagreements amongst family members is a normal thing, but it is very important to know the difference between these disagreements and a straight-up toxic family member. Although, you need to understand a few things to even know if you have a toxic member in your family. And so, we listed down a few signs.

01/ You dislike being around them

There are a few situations that can tell you don't like being around this family member of yours and that they are toxic for you.

- You don't like interacting with them

- They treat you in a way that makes you feel unsettling

- They make you feel guilty while having conversations

- You feel anxious just by being around them

02/ You both have consistent blow-ups

As we mentioned earlier, conflicts are normal in a family, but when you have a toxic relationship with a family member, even the smallest of disagreements can turn into huge fights. You can't always predict how that person is going to react to your thoughts and that can result in arguments. Toxic family members can also engage in:

- Gaslighting you

- They take things personally even when you didn't mean to say it that way

- Your arguments with them make you feel drained and manipulated.

- They make personal attacks on your character during an argument.

03/ They don't respect what you believe

Of course, it's allowed to have different beliefs, but you must respect each other for what you believe. A toxic member of the family might not respect your beliefs. It is painful when they say offensive things about what you believe in. They might even go ahead and belittle you for your beliefs like:

- They don't accept your sexuality or gender identity

- They don't accept your partner from a different race or religion

- They talk negatively about you in public spaces or even on social media

04/ They make themselves a priority

Since the whole family tries to keep peace in the house, they try to organize their entire lives around this toxic member. All the other family members try to convince others to compromise and sacrifice their wants, needs, convenience and values for this toxic person. This starts to make you feel exhausted, worthless and forgotten. Here's what it looks like:

- The toxic person is never held accountable for their actions

- They are hardly thankful even when you are making big sacrifices for them

- They repeatedly sabotage plans

- They disappoint you all the time with their behaviour

05/ They are abusive

Violation of boundaries, manipulation, gaslighting and the threat to harm you can be the traits of a toxic family member. And this can result in:

- Everyone is at ease when this person isn't around

- They bully you or harass you

- They have no respect for boundaries or personal space

- They are extremely controlling and hypercritical

- You keep receiving verbal and physical threats from them

from LifeStyle