By Tracy S. Hutchinson, Psychology Today, February 8, 2020
How do you know you have a toxic family or family member? You may feel anxious or nervous when you have to interact with them. You may feel drained after interacting with them or hearing them gossip.
They may be addicted to “drama," tend to overreact emotionally and create scenes in public or within a family. They may share personal things you said to them in confidence with other people to harm you. Worse, you may feel confused, manipulated, and emotionally harmed after interacting with them or asserting your boundaries.
While all families have disagreements and conflict, toxic family systems use extremely unhealthy ways of interacting with each other and resolving conflict. While disagreements and tension are inevitable in any family, the manner in which the conflict is handled is what differentiates a healthy family system from a toxic family system.
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