Opinion | Psychology of Unhealthy Relationships Why we stay in our relationships is a trick question. Some stay for love, some for the affection they get from their partner, some merely stay because they do not have anywhere else to go, and some stay for addiction. Yes. One of the primary reasons most people stay in unhealthy relationships is because they are addicted to the presence of their partners. To understand the psychology of individuals who choose to stay in toxic relationships, knowingly or unknowingly, we must first divulge into what is an unhealthy relationship ? What are unhealthy relationships? For a general definition, unhealthy relationships are the ones where we are not able to express our real selves to our partner. We tend to hide things, our personality, our needs, our vulnerabilities, and we totally become an entity that would be ‘liked’ by our partner; but most of the time, when we deviate from that happy picture we create for ourselves, al...