Toxic Friendships
Chanel Downey English 115 Professor Kirstin Bruner 18 February 2009
Toxic Friendships: Harmful Friends Unhealthy Relationships
There are many definitions of what a friend is or is considered to be. But a friend is generally known as a person whom one knows, likes, and trusts (freedictonary.com). And when someone chooses a friend, they ordinarily enter into a friendship with another person. Because people tend to have different personalities, there are different types of friends that can develop. The friendships that we build with others in and or over the course of our lives can affect us greatly in a deeply profound way. For the most part, people desire or want their friendships to become healthy, happy, and/or trustworthy relationships. However, there are friendships that are not so healthy at all, and if fact, can do more harm to you than good. This is what is known as a harmful friendship or what is typically called a “Toxic Friendship”. Toxic Friendships are unfulfilling, unrewarding, unhealthy relationships that can be difficult to recognize (The Toxic Friendship Project). And since most people do not know how to recognize this type of friendship before getting involved, they make the mistake of falling victim to it. Understanding the signs of a potentially toxic friendship is a key to steering clear of and or possibly getting into one. For example are the categories of some main types of toxic friends: The most harmful of them all is “The User” or who could also be known as “The Drainer” because this person only sticks around long enough to use you for their own purpose(s), (Bottom line Secrets). The User pretends they like you until you give them what they want. Then you have “The Betrayer”, “The Gossip”, also known as…“The Big Mouth”, (Bottom line Secrets). Then there is “The Control Freak” that often seems to be helping you but as long as they are in control of
Toxic Friendships: Harmful Friends Unhealthy Relationships
There are many definitions of what a friend is or is considered to be. But a friend is generally known as a person whom one knows, likes, and trusts (freedictonary.com). And when someone chooses a friend, they ordinarily enter into a friendship with another person. Because people tend to have different personalities, there are different types of friends that can develop. The friendships that we build with others in and or over the course of our lives can affect us greatly in a deeply profound way. For the most part, people desire or want their friendships to become healthy, happy, and/or trustworthy relationships. However, there are friendships that are not so healthy at all, and if fact, can do more harm to you than good. This is what is known as a harmful friendship or what is typically called a “Toxic Friendship”. Toxic Friendships are unfulfilling, unrewarding, unhealthy relationships that can be difficult to recognize (The Toxic Friendship Project). And since most people do not know how to recognize this type of friendship before getting involved, they make the mistake of falling victim to it. Understanding the signs of a potentially toxic friendship is a key to steering clear of and or possibly getting into one. For example are the categories of some main types of toxic friends: The most harmful of them all is “The User” or who could also be known as “The Drainer” because this person only sticks around long enough to use you for their own purpose(s), (Bottom line Secrets). The User pretends they like you until you give them what they want. Then you have “The Betrayer”, “The Gossip”, also known as…“The Big Mouth”, (Bottom line Secrets). Then there is “The Control Freak” that often seems to be helping you but as long as they are in control of
References: Works Cited Simple-ology, ‘How to deal with a toxic friend’ by Bean Jones http://www.simpleology.com/blog/2008/07/how_to_deal_with_a_fiendish_fr.html Toxic Friendships, http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/107437/motivation/toxic_friendships.html The Toxic Friendship Project, http://toxicfriendships.org/default.aspx Hub pages, http://hubpages.com/hub/A-friend-is Bottom line Secrets ‘The Art of Friendship: Build true friends, Dump toxic ones’, Florence Isaacs, retrieved September 15,1999 from http://www.bottomlinesecrets.com/print.html?article_id=15514 http://www.thefreedictionary.com/friend