WE MAY THINK of toxic behavior as tossing insults or hurling plates. Often, though, it’s much more subtle. Those little white lies you tell to avoid owning up to mistakes? A kind of gaslighting. Letting out a loud sigh when cleaning up a mess your spouse left? A wee bit passive aggressive. Sometimes these actions are intentional. Sometimes they happen without much thought. Either way, they’re not great. And they can erode the bonds of a relationship, warns Robin Stern, PhD, cofounder of the Yale
