11/08/2025
Quite often people who grew up in households that had unhealthy conflict or where there was a lot of fighting often view appropriate assertiveness as aggression. This can be usually seen as defensiveness or triggering when that person is dealing with some type of authority that is assertive or with dealing with people who are direct even with healthy forms of confrontation or conflict. They also may feel very uncomfortable about being properly assertive themselves so they may go back to coping mechanisms they used as a child such as; hostility, shutting down or fawning (people pleasing). All of these are also risk factors of being in unhealthy relationships. This is where attachment styles come into play as well. These are some of the most common issues I see in my own counselling practice. The more you know! 💫
