The 8 Relationship Archetypes: Which One Are You?

Knowing yourself hugely improves your relationship success and happiness.

Photo by Analise Benevides on Unsplash

Each of us has an “operating style” with a relationship.

It’s based on how we approach love, how we interact with another, who we are when we’re with someone else.

Our styles — or archetypes — are a mash-up of our biology, temperament, emotional history, experiences and the feedback the world has tossed at us.

And, of course, one size doesn’t fit all. People are not absolute so, while one style tends to dominate, we all spill over the edges into other categories.

But when we understand how we function within relationships, we’re better placed to be in them — and to answer questions like:

• Why do I struggle to commit?
• Why do I feel anxious in relationships?
• Why is it hard for me to get close to someone?
• Am I too needy in a relationship? Or too independent?
• Why does my partner push my buttons?
• Why can’t I make a relationship last?

These archetypes are not a scientific classification and they differ from attachment styles (based on attachment theory), in that…