Relationships make up a huge and vital part of any human life. These relationships vary from close and intimate to distant and troublesome. No matter the nature of the relationship, one is easily affected by it as some relationships can be beneficial and interesting others can be toxic and dangerous. Your physical and mental well-being may depend on the type of relationship you have.
To have a clear understanding of the center of our discussion, it’s important to learn what relationship is, types of it, and the effects it has on you in general.
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WHAT IS RELATIONSHIP
A relationship is seen as any connection between two or more people, it can be positive or negative. One can have a relationship with a lot of people, including family and friends colleagues, and business partners. Notwithstanding, the phrase “being in a relationship,” often means being in an intimate romantic relationship.
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Relationship defers and to be in a relationship doesn’t always mean one is in physical intimacy, emotional relationship, People enter into different relationships for different purposes that have unique characteristics.
TYPES OF RELATIONSHIP
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Relationships often fall into one of these categories however they can sometimes overlap
Family relationships include father, mother, siblings, and anyone belonging to one family
Friendships, include close friends, playmates like a guy you meet at the bar playing snooker together
Acquaintances
Romantic relationships. like husband, wife fiancee
Sexual relationships husband, wife, a friend with benefits, hook-up
Work relationships include colleagues, business partners, co-workers
Situational relationships (sometimes called “situationships”) include road-strip partners, co-survival of an accident.
Being in a relationship doesn’t mean there is intimate emotional attachment involved as many relationships don’t always demand that, depending on the type anyways. People engage in many different types of relationships that have unique characteristics.
PLATONIC RELATIONSHIP
A platonic relationship is a type of friendship that involves a close, intimate bond without sex or romance. These relationships tend to be characterized by:
Openness
Fondness
Understanding
Respect
Caregiving
Voluntary Support
Honesty
Acceptance
Platonic relationships do occur in a different setting, which may involve same-sex or opposite-sex friendships. You can form a platonic relationship with someone whom you feel is a good person and has your interest at heart like a classmate or a co-worker, or you may even connect with a person in another setting like a club or athletic activity, or at an NGO voluvoluntee organization, you are involved in.
This type of relationship is very good and can help you provide social support, emotional support. It is a good thing to be able to share your burden with someone without getting sexually involved with them, it is essential for your mental well-being. The research found out that platonic friendships do help reduce your risk of heart disease, lower your risk for depression or anxiety, boost your confidence level and help your immune system.
ROMANIC RELATIONSHIP
Romantic relationships are those relationships that are characterized by feelings of love and attraction for another person. Romantic love can vary, it does involve feelings of attraction, infatuation, intimacy, and commitment.
There are different ways people express and communicate love. For instance, A psychologist named Robert Sternberg gave three components of love namely: passion, intimacy, and decision/commitment. He goes further to explain that romantic love is often expressed by the combination of intimacy and passion.
Romantic relationships are subject to change over time. At the early stage of the relationship, people often experience stronger feelings of passion and infatuation. During this early stage, the brain often releases some specific neurotransmitters which are dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin that cause people to feel euphoric and in love, they help build bonds and intimacy in a relationship, at this stage the feeling of love is very strong.
In time, these feelings reduce as the relationship matures and grows people tend to develop much deeper levels of emotional intimacy and understanding.
CODEPENDENT RELATIONSHIP
A codependent relationship is a relationship where one partner is dependent physically, emotionally, and mentally on the other, it is often an imbalance and dysfunctional type of relationship.
It can also be that both partners in the relationship are mutually co-dependent on each other. One and even both may take turns being the caregiver while the other acts as the caretaker.
Some of the characteristics of a codependent relationship may include:
One person acts as a giver and the other person acts as a taker.
Going to great lengths and doing everything possible to avoid conflict with the other person, can be very unhealthy because the other person suppresses him/herself while the other express themselves. No feeling of expression by both parties.
Feel like permission is needs to be given before you do anything.
Needing to play the hero to save the other from their very own actions and decisions.
Going an extra unhealthy length to make the other happy even though it cost you your peace.
You may feel like you have lost your identity in the relationship and just can’t understand yourself anymore.
Elevating and appraisal of the other people even though they have done nothing to earn it.
Codependent relationships may vary, however. They vary in terms of severity and are still the same in terms of context. Surprisingly, Codependency can impact all the various types of relationships including relationships between romantic pairs, parents and children, friendship, other family members, and coworkers.
CASUAL RELATIONSHIPS
These are the relationships that are just for the fun of it, simply put it as pleasure-seeking relationships as no long term commitment is expected from both parties. However, the research discovered that the word “casual” is vague as it has many interpretations for many people.
According to a study published in the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, casual relationships can be seen like this, such as:3
One-night stands
Booty calls
“Sex” buddies
Friends with benefits
The study reported that partners with more sexual experience were better at understanding and identifying the meaning and terms of these labels compared to people with less sexual experience.
Casual relationships are very common among young adults. So far as they are marked by communication and consent, they can have lots of sexual benefits. They often satisfy the instant need for sex, intimacy, connection, and companionship without the emotional investments responsibility and commitments demanded in other relationships.
TOXIC RELATIONSHIP
This can be seen as any type of interpersonal relationship where one’s physical, psychological well-being is mistreated mismanaged, or even threatened in some ways. Such relationships often leave you feeling unfulfilled, rejected, unappreciated misunderstood, and unsupported.
Any type of relationship can be toxic so far your needs and want are not met by the other party including friendships, family relationships, romantic relationships, or workplace relationships.
Toxic relationships are characterized by:
A lack of support
Blaming
Unhealthy Competition
Controlling behaviors
Disrespect
Dishonesty
Gaslighting
Hostility
Jealousy
Passive-aggressive behaviors
Poor or no communication
Stress
Interestingly, sometimes all the parts in the relationship may even play a role in creating the toxic atmosphere. For instance, continuous acts of jealousy, hostility disrespect without being corrected may eventually create chaos.
Your overall health is important, No matter what type of relationship you are in with another, make sure it is the healthy one.
Healthy relationships are built on love trust, mutual respect, openness, honesty, and affection. Good communication and freedom of expression are the bedrock of a healthy relationship.
There are ways to improve your relationships with others. Make sure they know you love and care about them, appreciation is the tool that can be very useful in building an intimate relationship, stayi healthy.