What is true: A healthy boundary is…?
From the book – Chapter 34: Relationships and Communication
The right answer
A limit that protects your time, energy, body and values and respects the relationship
Healthy and unhealthy relationships
| Healthy relationships | Unhealthy or harmful relationships |
|---|---|
| Mutual respect and trust | Control, jealousy, possessiveness |
| Honest, open communication | Lying, secrecy, silent treatment |
| Support for each other’s growth | Put-downs and undermining |
| Freedom to have other friends and interests | Isolation from friends and family |
| Fair sharing of decisions and tasks | One person always decides |
| Safe conflict, with repair | Fear of the other’s anger |
| Both feel safe | Threats, intimidation, violence |
Abuse and violence
Abuse can be physical, sexual, emotional, verbal, financial, or digital. It happens in all communities and to people of all genders and ages. Warning signs include: being afraid of your partner’s reaction, being constantly criticised or humiliated, having your money or movements controlled, being cut off from loved ones, being threatened, or being forced to do things you do not want to do.
If you are in an abusive relationship: it is not your fault. You deserve safety. Reach out to a trusted person, a trusted person, a doctor, or the police. If you are planning to leave, seek advice about safety planning first, because leaving can be the most dangerous time. Keep emergency numbers memorised, and if in immediate danger, call your local emergency number.
Read the full chapter – Chapter 34: Relationships and Communication
Stories from real life
- Three Hundred Contacts and Nobody to Call – Lena, twenty-six, moved to Toronto for a software job. She had hundreds of contacts on her phone and two video calls a week with her family…
- Three Words He Always Said – Carla and Diego, married eleven years in Mexico City, had the same argument most nights. She would say, 'You never help. You are just like your…
- I Am Happy to Talk, But Not Like This – Thabo, thirty-three, from Johannesburg, said yes to everything. He covered shifts for colleagues, lent money to his cousin who never returned it, and answered his mother's…
- She Stopped Seeing Her Friends – Ruth, twenty-eight, from Glasgow, met Callum at a party, and he was charming. After a year she noticed small changes. He checked her phone, was angry…
More on this topic: Helping a loved one with mental illness – family and relationships
More questions
- What is true: loneliness differs from being alone because loneliness is…?
- Which is a serious warning sign of an unhealthy relationship?
- Three Hundred Contacts and Nobody to Call – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do
- Three Words He Always Said – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do
- I Am Happy to Talk, But Not Like This – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do
- She Stopped Seeing Her Friends – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do
- Left on Read – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do
- Why connection matters?
- What is the difference between loneliness and being alone?
- Understanding different kinds of relationships
- How to help a family member who is struggling
- How to set healthy boundaries in relationships