Member-only story

Are You a Doormat?

Relationships are complicated. No one would argue with that.

Shirley J. Davis
6 min readNov 17, 2022
Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

Learning about someone else’s quirks, needs, and boundaries is complicated, and sometimes the other person doesn’t reciprocate your interest.

This article will explore the doormat in a dysfunctional relationship and how to build healthy boundaries to protect yourself.

Just What is a Doormat?

One definition of a doormat is a person who allows others to walk on them and who continuously attempts, through manipulation, to please someone else. Doormats lose their sense of self and intertwine their lives with someone else, losing their identity.

A doormat partner allows themselves to be treated horribly and does not communicate their needs or stand up for themselves. The doormat is expected to agree with everything their partner says or wants them to do and does not have strong boundaries, if they exist at all.

All humans love power because it is vital for survival. Our power search begins when we are infants and continues throughout life. We all also look for our niche in relationships where we can fit. There are two types of power; coercion, and persuasion.

In coercion, a person is physically or verbally threatened, whereas persuasion requires…

--

--

Shirley J. Davis
Shirley J. Davis

Written by Shirley J. Davis

I am an author/speaker/grant writer in the U.S. My passion is authoring information about mental health disorders, especially dissociative identity disorder..

Responses (1)