The 8 toxic personalities to avoid in your life

Toxic personalities suck up our time and energy, and many individuals are unaware of the negative impact these people have on their life. These types of people are a source of conflict, create discomfort and stress, among many other problems.

A recent study by the Friedrich Schiller University, carried out in Germany, shows how toxic people in the well-being of the individuals around them.

• Related article: "Toxic friendships: 7 signs to spot a bad friend"

How toxic people affect our brain

In this research it was found that exposure to stimuli that cause strong negative emotions (such as this type of individuals) causes subjects to have a massive response to stress, and this stress is harmful to our organ thinking.

Just a few days of exposure to the stressful stimulus compromises the efficiency of neurons in the hippocampus, an important area of ​​the brain responsible for reasoning and memory. A few weeks of exposure causes reversible damage to brain cells, and months of stress can permanently destroy them. As you can see, toxic people not only make you feel sad or anxious, but they can have long-term negative consequences.

Can people change?

Now, you have to be careful when labeling people. Although it is true that there are individuals with a toxic personality, on many occasions (not all), it is possible to talk and solve problems. All people can change, but they also need to do their part.

However, toxic people exist and can cause relationship problems that affect you in the long run. Whether in your circle of friends or at work, it is necessary to detect this source of stress because it can affect your well-being and quality of life.

• We recommend you read: "23 signs you have a toxic relationship with a partner"

Toxic personalities: how to detect them?

Have you ever had a co-worker criticize you behind your back simply for being envious? Or has an alleged friend lied to you to benefit in some situation regardless of how it has affected you?

In everyday life situations we can meet people who are going to hurt us, and that no matter how much we do our part, they will only want to get away with whatever happens. In these cases it is better to get away and surround yourself with people who give us something positive, who add and do not subtract.

There are different signs to detect a toxic personality. They are as follows:

• Makes you lose your papers
• His presence has a strong negative impact on your self-esteem
• He blames you when he's the one to blame
• You feel fear and discomfort when you have to be with him
• You cannot be relaxed and calm in his presence
• You're on the defensive when it gets close

Types of toxic personalities

Of course, before blaming others it is necessary to look at oneself, because many times we can focus on others to excuse our own behavior. Sometimes it is the relationship itself (in which we both participate) that leads a person to behave negatively towards us.

Individuals with toxic personalities, however, tend to behave the same with other people and in other situations. But… What types of toxic personality can we find? Below you can find a list of toxic personalities.

1. Selfish

A toxic personality trait is selfishness. Selfish people are those who do not want to share anything with us, but when they are interested in something they are pleasant.

They are manipulative and may pretend to be our friends, but their only goal is to get something in return. They are not a real friendship and we will not be able to deepen our feelings with them or give them our trust. Selfish people, sooner or later, will bring out their true personality.

On the other hand, those who stand out for their selfishness are also characterized by rejecting the idea of ​​creating collaboration networks and cooperation, since if this attitude begins to become popular, your ability to refuse to share can make it isolated. The idea, then, is to make individualism prevail in almost all cases, except in those in which that person needs something from others.

2. Envious

Envious people always want what another person has and they cannot have, and therefore, they will never be happy that others are doing well. This situation is not healthy either for the person who is a victim or for the envious, and behind envy there is always low self-esteem, frustration and pain.

Envy occurs because these people do not focus their happiness inward. Spending too much time around envious people is dangerous because he will feel a great resentment towards you and towards the people around him.

3. Manipulative

Manipulators steal people's time and energy under the pretense that "nothing bad happens". They have the facility to convince you even in those topics that do not suit you and to take you along the way that they want, without qualms and without caring about the negative consequences that a situation.

Manipulators detect the weaknesses of others, they do not stop until they get what they want, they are insatiable and they always want to be in control.

• You can delve into these aspects in our article: "Manipulative people have these 5 traits in common”

4. Abusive

Without a doubt, one of the worst personalities that we can find is that of the abuser, but, unfortunately, the abuse is a phenomenon that can occur not only in relationships, but also in school (which is known as bullying) or at work (what is known as mobbing). Better to stay away from these people because they usually hide a great hatred inside.

• The abuse does not have to be physical, it can also be psychological. If you want to know what an abusive person is like: "Profile of the psychological abuser: 21 traits in common”

5. Intolerant

Intolerant people are people who are full of prejudices and, therefore, they are influenced by stereotypes and by ideas of something or someone accepted as a pattern of qualities or behaviors.

Instead of appreciating and learning from people who are different from themselves, people who judge others look at other individuals with contempt. As they are not objective people, it is better to stay away from them.

• Related article: "Intolerant people share these 12 flaws”

6. Authoritarian

The authoritarian personality is the one that reigns in dictators, but these traits can also be presented by people who are not in government (despite acting as if they had a very high quota of power).

These types of individuals have undemocratic behaviors and seek to exercise control over people around them, based on the idea that they are the ones who can best decide what is good and what is bad. Consciously or unconsciously, they do not listen to others and those around them, because they think that the only valid criterion is their own and they want everyone to obey them.

• Related article: "Authoritarian people share these 7 characteristics”

7. Sociopath

Sociopaths are those people who do not show empathy for others or remorse for their actions, and although they have a normal temperament, they have not acquired a series of social skills due to the negligent and incompetent parenting by his family, which in many cases involves situations of violence.

They may seem like lovely people when you meet them, but in the long run they display negative behaviors that affect people around them, among other things, because they do not see others as their equals and therefore do not they empathize.

• You can delve into this type of personality in our article: "Differences between psychopathy and sociopathy”

8. Neurotic

Neuroticism is what is known as emotional instability. We can all have a certain degree of neuroticism, but those who have a high degree of it and do nothing to regulate it and trying to make their interpersonal relationships work, they usually pose a big problem for the members of their circles social. This is so because they do not tolerate well the little frustrations and setbacks that interaction with others brings naturally and irremediably.

Emotional instability is caused by low self-esteem and irrational beliefs that are part of the mental schemes of the person, which lead them to be perfectionists and to focus their happiness on factors external. They are people who usually live on an emotional roller coaster and can have childish behaviors.