Toxic personality traits
According to WebMD.com:
| “ | If you know someone who’s difficult and causes a lot of conflict in your life, you may be dealing with a toxic person. These people can create lots of stress and unpleasantness for you and others, not to mention emotional or even physical pain.
A toxic person is anyone whose behavior adds negativity and upset to your life. Many times, people who are toxic are dealing with their own stresses and traumas. To do this, they act in ways that don’t present them in the best light and usually upset others along the way. Toxicity in people isn’t considered a mental disorder. But there could be underlying mental problems that cause someone to act in toxic ways, including a personality disorder.[1] |
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Contents
Symptoms of a toxic person
Some of the characteristics of psychopaths are being angry, rash, impulsive, and oppositional (among others).[3]
Reduced empathy, often seen in psychopathy, increases the prevalence of goal-directed aggression.[4] Psychopaths have a greater risk of suffering from irritability/reactive aggression.[5] Both decreased empathy and increased anger are associated with maladaptive aggression.[6]
Symptoms of a toxic person are:[7][8][9][10]
1. Inconsistent behavior
2. They always need your attention
3. They are narcissistic
4. There is always some sort of drama. According to WebMD.com: "Toxic people thrive in dramatic situations. They inflame emotions and create conflict. They love stirring the pot to see what happens. People are often toxic because they're not interested in being stable and healthy in relationships."[11]
5. They lack empathy and are mean.
6. They don’t respect your boundaries
7. The are controlling
8. They manipulate others for what they want
9. They’ll make you prove yourself to them
10. They never apologise.
11. They’ll bring irrelevant detail into a conversation as a means of distraction and avoidance
12. They exaggerate. For example, they may frequently use the term "You always" or "You never"
13. They are dishonest
14. They are denialists
15. They abuse substances
Strategies on dealing with a toxic person
The 3 most common strategies for dealing with toxic people are:[12][13]
1. Confront them[14]
2. Set stricter boundaries. For example, let them know that you will not tolerate their attempts to create drama.
3. Cut them out of your life
Journal articles
- Identifying components of type-A behaviour: “toxic” and “non-toxic” achieving, Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 28, Issue 6, 1 June 2000, Pages 1093-1105
- Avoiding a "toxic" organization, Nursing Management, 01 May 1998, 29(5):32-33, PMID: 9807410
- The "toxic" personality in pathology: An opinion by Saul Suster. Annals of Diagnostic Pathology. 2023 Apr;63:152106. doi: 10.1016/j.anndiagpath.2023.152106.
- Coaching the toxic leader, Harvard Business Review, Apr;92(4):100-9, 134.
The effect of toxic leadership in the military and civilian sectors
- The Effect of Toxic Leadership by Lieutenant Colonel Darrell W. Aubrey, United States Army
See also
References
- ↑ Signs of a Toxic Person, WebMD.com
- ↑ What Is Narcissistic Rage, and What’s the Best Way to Deal with It?, Healthline.com
- ↑ What Everyone Should Understand About the Dark Triad, Psychology Today website, 2022
- ↑ Traits of empathy and anger: implications for psychopathy and other disorders associated with aggression, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, v.373(1744); 2018 Apr 19
- ↑ Traits of empathy and anger: implications for psychopathy and other disorders associated with aggression, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, v.373(1744); 2018 Apr 19
- ↑ Traits of empathy and anger: implications for psychopathy and other disorders associated with aggression, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, v.373(1744); 2018 Apr 19
- ↑ Signs of a Toxic Person, WebMD.com
- ↑ Do’s and Don’ts for Dealing with Toxic Behavior, Healthline.com
- ↑ Toxic People: 12 Things They Do and How to Deal with Them by the psychologist Karen Young
- ↑ What to Know About People with Toxic Traits, PsychCentral.com
- ↑ Signs of a Toxic Person, WebMD.com
- ↑ Signs of a Toxic Person, WebMD.com
- ↑ Addressing toxic personality traits from the book The Ethics of Interpersonal Relationships By Robert W. Firestone and Joyce Catlett, 1st Edition 2009, Routledge, ISBN9780429481666, Page 24, eBook
- ↑ "If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." - Mathew 18:15-18
