Addictive love is characterized for being emotionally unbalanced relationships and harmful that have a negative impact on the life of the parties. These couple relationships are going to be marked by addictive behaviors that are quite difficult to break.
In the next article we are going to talk to you of the characteristics of addictive love and how they can affect in a harmful way the parties that make up the relationship.
Emotional dependence
One of the characteristics of addictive love It is emotional dependence taken to the limit, that occurs in the relationship. The people present in these relationships will feel a strong need to be with their partner. For this they will constantly seek the validation and approval of their partner. There is a rather important feeling of emptiness when you are not together, which can cause obsessive and possessive behaviors.
Idealization and devaluation
In addictive love, it is quite normal to observe repeating cycles both idealization and devaluation. At the beginning of the relationship, the couple is idealized and placed on the highest step. With the passage of time, this idealization is diluted, producing a criticism of the couple. This will cause an addictive cycle that completely harms the relationship.
control and manipulation
In addictive love, there is total control by one of the parties over the partner. Such control often causes strong manipulation and emotional blackmail which is detrimental to the relationship itself. In such a case, the subjected and controlled party has no say in the relationship and suffers a significant loss of self-esteem.
unbalanced relationship
in addictive relationships there is a significant imbalance between the parties. One of the parties is going to assume the role of controller within the couple, while the other is totally submitted while being submissive. This imbalance ends up causing a toxic relationship, in which one of the parties makes the decisions for the couple in general.
Low self-esteem
People who are deeply involved in addictive relationships often have low self esteem and they lack self-confidence. They will constantly seek the approval of the partner and endure all kinds of damage within the relationship. They are not capable of making decisions for themselves.
Emotional intensity
Another of the characteristics of addictive love is that they are full of emotional intensity. There are strong ups and downs on an emotional level, It does not benefit the relationship at all. It is therefore normal for there to be moments of euphoria and happiness together with others of sadness and apathy. It is a fairly important emotional roller coaster that ends up seriously damaging the relationship.
repetition of dysfunctional patterns
In love affairs that are addictive, it is quite normal for them to repeat themselves. various dysfunctional patterns in a successive manner. People are going to look for partners with characteristics similar to those of previous relationships, despite how unhealthy it may be. This causes people to fall back into addictive relationships over and over again.
In short, addictive love affairs are toxic relationships that should be avoided at all costs. Apart from a strong emotional dependency manipulation and emotional blackmail take place, which cause the relationship to be unhealthy. Given this, it is essential to know how to identify the characteristics of this kind of love and break the addictive cycle as quickly as possible.
It is good to seek some emotional support from the closest environment and go to a good professional who knows how to treat such a problem. Sometimes therapies are perfect when it comes to achieving the desired balance in the relationship and happiness within the couple itself.