I’m a psychologist, here’s 5 signs your relationship could be toxic

A clinical psychologist has shared her top five signs that your relationship could be toxic.

Dr. Kirren took to her TikTok account to point out that there are many different things that manipulators will say regularly, before decoding what they really mean for you and your romance.  

Addressing the difficult subject matter with her followers, Dr. Kirren – aka – @drkirren – captioned the post: “Have you experienced any of these?”

She then added the hashtags: “#manipulation #toxicrelationship #toxicrelationshipcheck #toxicpeople #toxicepeoplebelike # manipulative.”  

She then explained: “I’m Dr. Kirren. Here’s five things that manipulators will say to you and what they really mean.

Dr. Kirren then went through five statements one by one, and shared the meaning behind them.

The first tell-tale sign she has spotted is when people say “it’s for your own good.”

Dr. Kirren explains: “It means, ‘you’ve no right to be upset, you should be grateful.’”

The second one she pinpointed is the statement “you’re so sensitive,” which she says really is translated to “your feelings really don’t matter.”

Dr. Kirren’s third phrase that should send alarm bells ringing is “you’re so dramatic” – decoded to “your reactions are not valid.”

The penultimate red flag is when someone says “you know how much I love you” during a debate or heated discussion.

Dr. Kirren continues: “That means, ‘I need you to make sure that you keep giving me what I want.’”

Meanwhile, the fifth and final worrying sign is if someone plays down what they’ve said by insisting that “it’s just a joke”. 

Dr. Kirren lifts the lid on the true meaning of this, and clarifies: “This means, ‘If you call me out then it’s a joke, if you don’t then it’s not.’”

This story originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced here with permission.