8 Behaviors Toxic People Display And How To Handle Them Effectively

We have all met people whose behavior is highly negative and damaging. The main harm when it comes to toxic people is that by the time you realize how negatively they influence your mental and emotional well-being, the damage will have been already done.

A toxic person can affect every part of your life in the same way any other toxin can harm your body. They can ruin your relationships with other people, shatter your confidence and self-esteem, and even make you question your own logic, perception of reality, and even sanity.

Unfortunately, you can’t avoid this kind of people because they’re everywhere around you. And if you don’t know how to deal with them, they can wreak havoc on your life.

So, to prevent them from having influence over you and protect your sanity, you need to be able to recognize the ways in which difficult and highly negative people behave. Knowing how they behave, you’ll be better prepared to handle them effectively in any situation.

Following is a list of 8 behaviors toxic people display and how you can handle them effectively:

1. They always change their behavior.

It’s difficult to tell what version of them you’re seeing at any given time because they hardly ever act the same. Today they might be the nicest, most compassionate, and loving people you’ve ever known and tomorrow they might simply ignore you like they’ve never met you before.

Sure, this will make you wonder whether you’ve said or done something that upset them and you may even try to make up for it and put things right. But, the truth is – you’ll never succeed in it.

What you should understand is that it’s not about you. You’re not the cause of their bad mood, unhappiness, or disappointment. When they give you the silent treatment, that’s their way of manipulating you. And if they refuse to discuss the issue, then most probably, there’s nothing to be discussed, right?

2. They make you feel like you owe something to them.

A toxic person will give you advice, do you a favor, help you, buy you expensive gifts, or shower you with sweet words and compliments, but don’t let this “kindness” confuse you.

They’re not being kind to you because they genuinely love and care about you. They do this because they have other intentions – they want you to do something for them – you know, pay back the favor. And guess what? That’s usually something that you’ll hate to do and they know this.

So, to prevent them from putting you in these situations, don’t accept presents that appear out of proportion or favors you never asked for.

3. They’re never wrong.

No matter what they think, say, or do – they’re always right. Of course, this is only true in their own delusional, wicked world. They will make a mistake and hurt your feelings, but they’ll never own up to it and apologize to you.

To avoid taking responsibility for their mistakes and bad actions, they’ll twist your words and the facts so much that you’ll end up in some silly argument about things and situations you don’t even remember happened.

So, never try to defend yourself or prove your point in an argument with them. And, of course, get rid of the need to wait for them to apologize to you for whatever bad thing they’ve said or done to you.

4. They project their feelings on you.

A toxic person can accuse you of being too sensitive, jealous, clingy, or needy or even of having a problem with them. Of course, when this comes from a person you didn’t expect, especially when you have nothing to be mad about at them, you end up feeling confused, disappointed, or even sad.

But, what you should understand is that this has nothing to do with you. It’s not you who is all those things mentioned above and it’s not you who is having a problem with them – it’s them. They’re just projecting their own negative feelings on you, so don’t ever feel the need to defend yourself against their accusations.

5. They envy you and therefore dampen your happiness.

These people can’t stand when someone is better and more successful at something than them. To make you feel less important than them, ruin your happiness, and make you feel bad about yourself, they never congratulate you on your successes or whatever good news you’re sharing with them.

For example, you have a new boyfriend/girlfriend, they’re quick to say something like: “Oh, really? Well, I hope this relationship lasts longer than the last one.” Or you got promoted, and their reaction is: “Oh, well, finally, because I got promoted two months ago.”

It’s obvious that they envy you and by telling you things like these, they’re trying to downplay the importance of your achievements and successes and dampen your happiness. Anyway, this is something you can’t control and change, so make sure you never take their snide comments to heart.

6. They don’t solve arguments – they create drama.

Instead of trying to resolve arguments, they either keep quiet and they don’t respond to anything you say or they change the topic of discussion. They bring up some old unresolved problems or past mistakes you made that are completely unrelated to the issue at hand and that you might even no longer remember. They do all this just to confuse you and put you on the defensive.

So, in order to save yourself from being dragged into a needless drama, state your point clearly and don’t try to defend it. Don’t bother to win the argument because the only thing you’ll succeed doing is wasting your energy.

7. They use snide remarks to hurt you.

They’ll tell you something like: “Oh, that new haircut looks really good on you.” Or “Oh, so, that’s your new boyfriend/girlfriend.” These words seem innocent and honest, but the tone with which they say them turns them into something nasty.

They make snide comments about your appearance, relationships, successes, or anything related to you to belittle you, hurt your feelings, and weaken your confidence and self-esteem.

The best way you can deal with this kind of behavior is to always know your worth and that what others think and say about you can’t define you.

8. They avoid contact with you to punish you.

You’re still planning to go on an outing together or discussing a problem and all of a sudden the person is out of reach. They don’t answer your calls and respond to your messages or emails. They even stay offline on their profiles on social media.

Of course, in the meantime, you are in a state of confusion, trying to figure out whether you’ve said or done something that upset them.

Never allow yourself to think that it’s about you when someone treats you this way. That person is punishing you for reasons known only to them. This behavior is cowardly and disrespectful and if it occurs repeatedly, you should consider distancing yourself from that person completely.