How to deal with toxic family members?

How to deal with toxic family members: The word family can bring to mind a collection of complex emotions. Relying on your childhood and current family situation, these feelings can be positive, negative, or an equal mix of both.

If you have undergone a toxic family dynamic, your feelings may go beyond frustration. Instead, interacting with or even thinking about your family might cause considerable emotional distress.

A toxic family environment can be difficult to recognize, especially when you’re still embedded in them. So, let us tell you are few signs of a toxic family member. 

Common traits of toxic family members include:

• Not displaying concern for your emotions, needs, or rights
• Acting rude and belittling
• Breaking your boundaries 
• Denying to compromise with you 
• Acting authorized
• Always have the urge to be right
• Making unjust demands 
• Not taking accountability for their actions
• Blaming others for their blunders 
• Rarely saying sorry 

How to deal with toxic family members?

Set boundaries

It can be difficult to determine and set boundaries if you are from a family that doesn’t respect them. You get to decide what treatment you will accept now. State your needs and feelings straight. You might ask your family member to transform their behavior.

Note that this is not usually possible with a toxic family member because they’re not inspired to change their behavior. Instead, the boundary helps remind you to protect yourself from them. 

Also Read: How to Set Healthy Boundaries in a Relationship?

Stay away from them emotionally

One way to stay emotionally distant is to limit how much emotional info you share. Say your brother or mother mocks you and makes sarcastic comments after you confess a problem you have. This is your alert to share as little as possible with her in the future.

Also, you don’t need to answer private questions from toxic family members. 

Decide what you want

Determining what you want from the relationship can help you create a more precise idea of the boundaries you want to set.

Say you like spending casual time with your brother on weekends, but not when he asks about your love life. You know she will share those details later with your mother, who will then call to criticize you.

You still want to maintain a relationship with your brother, so one solution might be limiting your visits with your brother to once a month and telling him ahead of time that you won’t discuss dating or anything you feel like he should not know.

Other useful points

• Don’t expect your family members or anyone to be perfect, including yourself.
• Stop trying to bring old battles. There is no way to fix them.
• Let go of your wishes for family members’ dynamism. You can’t make them change their minds or change their plans.
• Once you decide to change your behavior, be ready for strong responses from family members and even friends. Try to predict what responses you might get such as weeping, regret, shouting, or even threats, and decide how you will respond.

How to move on from a toxic family member

Find out friends and new people to share your heart with. Dealing with family members who have toxic behaviors is emotionally taxing. Be sure to take good care of yourself emotionally and physically.