4 Signs You're Addicted to Relationship Drama (And What To Do)

Relationships are powerful for a lot of reasons—a variety of strong emotions, intimacy, trust, hopes, and dreams. And that's not even talking about the powerful negative emotions—fear, abandonment, rejection, shame. Yes, relationships are worth the risk. However, we need to be thoughtful and careful because powerful things (love and sex, as well as alcohol, drugs, and other similarly addictive things) can present problems for humans.

It's possible for us to act like we have some of the classic addictions when it comes to relationships. Addictions are some of the most powerful and confusing experiences a human can have. The short definition of an addiction is when we continue to do something in spite of all the chaos, drama, or pain it causes us. And to make matters worse, we (and others) often logically know that we should stop, but for some reason we keep doing it.

Does déjà vu mean anything to you? Have you been unsuccessful at avoiding this "type" of relationship or been unsuccessful at moving past the "same old" drama in this relationship? In spite of your best efforts, you keep finding your relationship back at this same spot, same drama.

We all have a bad day or bad weekend; that's understandable. If you're in a relationship that you care about, you're going to have moments that you're not proud of. What starts to concern professionals should also concern you—patterns. It's patterns that separate an "understandable" low moment from a behavior that may actually reflect a deeper problem, a problem where we act like we are addicted.

Drama has an emotional intensity that can be elevated—very elevated. Do you miss the intensity, maybe even crave it? If you keep going out with the same kind of person and ending up in the same kind of chaos, you may just feel that's normal. Or possibly you like it because it makes you feel alive, cared for, like they are committed to you, or any host of reasons that aren't really that accurate or healthy.

Do you avoid good friends or family because you have to deal with the drama or miss events because of the drama or avoid them because your loved ones are tired of it? Does managing the drama episodes interfere with the things you enjoy in life (working out, going to movies, travel)? Are you tired of your close friends asking why you keep going back to that person?

Well, if it's causing all that negativity, why do you stay? Are you doing the same thing but expecting a different outcome? That's the classic definition of insanity or, in this case, addiction. You keep listening to the words even though the behaviors don't match up. How much longer are you going to wait or "try" before you move on? It really confuses our hearts when we hear the words we want to hear but don't see the behaviors that support the words. It may break your heart, but it may be time to end this.