One example of controlling behavior that's quite common in toxic relationships: your partner may try to control how you're engaging with other people, notes Lauren Cook, PsyD, MMFT, a San Diego-based psychologist and author of the forthcoming book "Generation Anxiety." In other words, "your world becomes smaller and smaller," she explains.
"When your partner makes comments on who they want you to hang out with, from the outside looking in, it might look like your partner is attempting to 'look out' for you," says Jaime Mahler, LMHC, a New York-based psychotherapist, mental health educator, and author of the forthcoming book "Toxic Relationship Recovery: Your Guide to Identifying Toxic Partners, Leaving Unhealthy Dynamics, and Healing Emotional Wounds After a Breakup." "Yet the issue is, you are a full-grown adult able to make the judgment call on who is healthy enough to be in your life and who is not. Your partner does not get to make those judgment calls for you."
Plus, they're likely trying to isolate you from people who would otherwise spotlight their bad behavior.
