Healthy vs Unhealthy Relationships

Being in a relationship is part of many peoples’ lives, especially from the age of teens to young adults. We start to discover new things and often engage in relationships. There is no such thing as a perfect relationship, but a relationship can be considered healthy or unhealthy. A relationship is based on ones’ connections with other people, and what these connections are made of is what makes a relationship healthy or unhealthy. This is a really important topic to discuss since unhealthy relationships can become toxic and damaging to your overall health. This is why you need to know the differences between a healthy and an unhealthy relationship.

A healthy relationship between two people consist of several characteristics. A healthy relationship forms connections based on things like honesty, support, mutual respect, good communication, equality, a sense of playfulness, and many other positive characteristics. It would be perfect to have all of these characteristics, but each relationship can have unhealthy characteristics as well, you just have to be actively making sure you have more positive ones so that you are not engaged in something that could be harmful to you. If you are in a healthy relationship you will feel more happiness than stress, because your partner will support you and be on the same page as you. Being honest is a crucial aspect since it plays a big part. If you don’t trust your partner, stress and negative feelings will come with it.

Unhealthy relationships are built on negative characteristics. If a lot of these characteristics are prevalent in a relationship, then it may not be a relationship you want to be in. This because it can be damaging to your health and your significant other. I you are feeling pressure, worried, a need to justify actions, obligated to have sex, a refusal from your partner to have safer sex, manipulation, lack of fairness, or any other negative characteristics, you have to begin to work towards fixing these problems.

If you are having trouble with a relationship, it is always good to talk to people you can trust such as a professional like a counselor or mental health provider. After getting advice you should consider fixing the relationship, but if more harm is done than good you should consider ending it. If you are forcing things with your partner, then you may be doing things the wrong way.

By: Peer Educator Humberto Urrutia