Are You in a Situationship? How to Tell and What to Do About It
Updated: Jul. 15, 2021
Every editorial product is independently selected, though we may be compensated or receive an affiliate commission if you buy something through our links. Ratings and prices are accurate and items are in stock as of time of publication.
Here’s what it means to be in a situationship and what experts recommend you do about these often confusing relationships.
What is a situationship?
Situationships are confusing to define and open to interpretation.
The catch-all definition of a situationship is an undefined romantic relationship, according to sex and relationship therapist Joe Kort.
“It isn’t given the same value or credit that a romantic love relationship would be if one is dating and looking for a permanent or long-term partner,” he says.
Situationships may involve sex and romance, but they don’t have the trajectory to move forward to a mature, loving relationship. Think of it essentially as short-term dating without an agenda.
Sanam Hafeez, a neuropsychologist and faculty member at Columbia University in New York City, adds that situationships don’t have any goals, terms, or purpose.
“A primary reason situationships are formed in the first place is because of the uncertainty that comes along with hookup culture,” Hafeez says.
In some cases, people may be nervous […]
Sandy Bober shares her personal testimony about being raped in college, her infection with an STD and her struggles and ultimate victory to regain her self-esteem, healthy relationships and a successful marriage.
Here at Love Smarts, we would like to share helpful information including personal stories of relationship successes and failures, insights from psychology and human experience about what leads to lasting love relationships.
We look forward to hearing from YOU which articles were meaningful and also about what you have learned from your own life experience, whether that was a top-of-the mountain joy or a relationship disaster!
The Institute for Relationship Intelligence is a 501c3 nonprofit organization (EIN 22-3301766). All donations are deeply appreciated and tax-deductible.
Inspirational Quotes
Recent Articles
How to Avoid Toxic Relationships
Try these five tips when you are choosing friends and mates.
By Elinor Greenberg, Ph.D.
Courtesy of Psychology Today
Many of us have had the experience of letting someone get close to us and then later regretting it. Toxic relationships can take many forms. We may have thought that someone was our best friend until she started making fun of us behind our back. Or, we may have idealized our handsome new love interest without really noticing that he gets drunk every night, flirts with other women, and gets irritated when we complain. Some of us spend years […]
Book Review: I Always Cry at Weddings by Sara Goff
I Always Cra at Weddings
by Sara Goff
Published in 2015, Sara Goff’s novel, I Always Cry at Weddings, is about Ava Larson, a young woman who is willing to lose everything in order to find true love. When it seems that everything is going wrong, Ava feels a loss of identity and the world seems different and dark. She starts to fear men and worries whether or not she would be ready for the right man when he presented himself. But she decides to live in faith, not fear. Goff’s novel is a story that demonstrates the […]