You will have many different types of relationships throughout your lifetime—from friends, family, and romantic partners. Each of these types of relationships entails different expectations, benefits, and challenges. Since interpersonal relationships and social support are so critical for physical and mental health, it is important to understand these various relationships and how to maintain healthy ones.

Defining Different Types of Relationships

A relationship is a connection between two people, that can be positive or negative.

You can be in a relationship with all sorts of people, including family and friends. The term “in a relationship” seems to have become connected primarily with romantic relationships, but it could refer to many types of associations that one person has with another.

The definition of “being in a relationship” may not always mean there is physical intimacy, emotional attachment, and/or commitment involved; people engage in many different types of relationships that have unique characteristics.

1. Platonic Relationships

A platonic relationship is a type of friendship where there is a close, intimate bond without sex or romance. It tends to be characterized by:

• Intimacy
• Fondness
• Understanding
• Respect
• Care
• Support
• Honesty
• Acceptance

Platonic relationships can occur in a wide range of settings and can involve same-sex or opposite-sex friendships. You might form a platonic relationship with a classmate or co-worker, or you might make a connection with a person in another setting such as a club, athletic activity, or volunteer organization you are involved in.

This kind of relationship can serve as a source of social support, which is important for your health and well-being. According to studies, platonic friendships may decrease your vulnerability to diseases, lower your risk for depression or anxiety, and even improve your immune system.

Platonic relationships are close and friendly but do not include sex. At times, platonic relationships may evolve over time and transition into a romantic or sexual relationship. Examples may include a friends-with-benefits or a friends-to-lovers situation.

2. Romantic Relationships

Romantic relationships are those that show feelings of love and attraction towards another person. While romantic love does vary, it can include feelings such as infatuation, intimacy, and commitment.

Experts have developed several theories regarding the ways people experience and express love. For instance, according to psychologist Robert Sternberg, there are three primary components of love—passion, intimacy, and decision/commitment. He further describes that romantic love can be explained as a combination of passion and intimacy.

Romantic relationships generally change over time:

• Honeymoon phase: People typically feel more passionate at the beginning of relationships when they fall in love. The brain releases neurotransmitters such as dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin during this infatuation period; thus, people feel euphoric and “in love.”
• Conflict phase: As time goes by, these feelings subside and become less intense. One starts to realize their partner’s flaws, and it is at this stage that the first conflicts can arise. This is an important stage for learning to surmount problems in a relationship.
• Commitment phase: As the relationship matures, people develop deeper levels of emotional closeness and understanding.

Romantic relationships tend to burn hot at the start of a romance. That is probably why we often feel like we cannot stop thinking about the object of our desire and want to be around them all the time. While those initial feelings of passion usually lessen in strength over time, feelings of trust, emotional intimacy, and commitment grow stronger.

3. Codependent Relationships

Codependent relationships are a kind of imbalanced, dysfunctional relationship wherein a partner has an emotional, physical, or mental reliance on the other person.

It is also common for both parties to be mutually co-dependent on each other. Both may take turns playing the caretaker role, switching between the caretaker and the care receiver.

The characteristics of a codependent relationship include:

• Playing the role of a giver while the other person acts as the taker
• Going to great lengths to avoid conflict with the other person
• Feeling that one needs to ask permission to do things
• Having to save or rescue the other person from their own actions
• Doing things to make someone happy, even if they make you uncomfortable
• Feeling like you don’t know who you are in the relationship
• Elevating the other person even if they’ve done nothing to earn your goodwill and admiration

Codependent relationships are not all the same, however; there are significant variations in their severity. The codependence may occur in a variety of relationships, including those between romantic partners, parents and children, friends, family members, and even coworkers.

Codependent relationships are co-constructed. In these, while one partner might seem more “needy,” the other partner may feel more comfortable being needed.

For example, someone who is uncomfortable with their own needs might select a partner who constantly needs them.

4. Casual Relationships

Relationships of a casual nature are usually dating relationships that might include sex but exclude the expectation of monogamy and commitment. Experts argue, however, that the term is imprecise and can have different meanings depending on who uses it.

Researchers have suggested that casual relationships can involve things like:

• One-night stands
• Booty calls
• “Sex” buddies
• Friends with benefits

Such relationships often exist on a continuum that varies in the levels of frequency of contact, type of contact, amount of personal disclosure, discussion of the relationship, and degree of friendship. It also emerged that people with more sexual experience were better able to identify the definitions of these labels compared to people with less sexual experience.

Casual relationships are often common among young adults. As long as casual relationships are marked by communication and consent, they can have a number of sex-positive benefits. They can fulfill the desire for sex, intimacy, connection, and companionship without the emotional demands and energy commitment of a more serious relationship.

Casual relationships are most common among younger adults, but individuals of any age can establish this kind of relationship. Consent and communication are key.

5. Open Relationships

An open relationship is a form of consensually non-monogamous relationship where one or more of the partners have sex or relationships with other people. In an open relationship, both people agree to have sex with other people but may have certain conditions or limitations.

Open relationships may occur in all sorts of romantic relationships, be it casual, dating, or married.

There is a stigma that seems to surround non-monogamous relationships. Research does indicate that approximately 21% to 22% of adults will engage in some type of open relationship during their lifetime.

The likelihood of engaging in an open relationship does vary based on gender and sexual orientation. Men indicated having more open relationships than women; those identifying as gay, lesbian, and bisexual reported past engagement in open relationships more often than those identifying as heterosexual.

Such relationships can have their pluses, such as increased sexual freedom, and pitfalls, such as jealousy and emotional pain. Couples in open relationships tend to find it easier when they establish personal, emotional, and sexual boundaries, while clearly communicating their feelings and needs.

6. Toxic Relationships

A toxic relationship refers to any kind of interpersonal relationship in which your emotional, physical, or psychological well-being is somehow undermined or threatened. It often makes you feel ashamed, humiliated, misunderstood, or unsupported.

Toxicity is not confined to any particular relationship; it can occur in friendships, family relationships, or workplace relationships.

Signs of Toxic Relationships include:

• A lack of support
• Blaming
• Competitiveness
• Controlling behaviors
• Disrespect
• Dishonesty
• Gaslighting
• Hostility
• Jealousy
• Passive-aggressive behaviors
• Poor communication
• Stress

At times, it is all the people within a relationship that create the toxicity. For instance, you might be contributing to the toxicity if you are all being unkind, critical, insecure, and negative constantly.

In other cases, one person in a relationship may behave in ways that create toxic feelings. This may be intentional, but in other cases, people may not fully understand how they are affecting other people; because of their past experiences with relationships, often in their home growing up, they may not know any other way of acting and communicating.

It doesn’t only create discontentment—toxic relationships can be seriously detrimental to your health.

For instance, it has been demonstrated in one study that stress brought about by negative relationships directly impacts cardiovascular health. Feeling isolated and misunderstood in relationships can also cultivate loneliness, which has been shown to adversely affect a person’s physical and mental well-being.

Toxic relationships are often linked with stress, can be harmful to your well-being, and even abusive at times. Set strong boundaries to protect yourself if you are in a toxic relationship with someone close to you. Seek help from a mental health professional or consider ending the relationship if it is harming you.

If you or someone you love is experiencing domestic abuse, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential help from a trained advocate.

How to Identify Types of Relationships in Your Life

How you define your relationship will depend on some important factors: what matters to you and what the feelings of the other person are. In defining your relationship, here are some questions that may help you get started:

• Do you have feelings of romance for one another?
• What is each person hoping to get from the relationship?
• How much time do you want to spend together?
• Where do you see this relationship going?
• Are you currently involved with or want to be involved with other people?

Figuring out what’s important to you and to your partner is a fundamental part of defining what kind of relationship you’re interested in having. You may be surprised to find out how similarly or differently you feel about what you want from your relationship.

Defining your relationship doesn’t have to mean a lifelong commitment. More accurately, it can be a way to help the two of you better understand the boundaries and expectations of your relationship.

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Tips to Keep Every Type of Relationship Healthy

No matter what type of relationship you have with another person(s), it needs to be a healthy one. Healthy relationships include trust, mutual respect, openness, honesty, and affection. Good communication plays a key role.

Strategies that can help include:

• Showing appreciation and gratitude
• Communicating openly and honestly
• Being affectionate and showing that you care
• Mutual respect
• Active listening
• Showing interest in each other
• Being supportive and encouraging
• Feeling empathy for one another
• Spending time together
• Having healthy boundaries
• Being reliable

Communication is very often the single most important thing in a relationship. Good relationships are also characterized by honesty, trust, and reciprocity. This doesn’t mean the relationship is transactional; it means you naturally give and take in a way that supports each other mutually.

But if a relationship is causing stress or shows signs of being toxic, look for ways to establish boundaries clearly, talk to a therapist, or even consider ending the relationship if it is taking too much of a toll on your well-being.

Read out this article: Understanding Relationship OCD (ROCD)

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