Toxic positivity

The overshadowing of someone else’s feelings whether consciously or unconsciously with the concept of luring the other party to be optimistic is called toxic positivity. One would never imagine the words toxic and positivity going hand in hand because culturally it has been ingrained in most of us that to discuss unpleasant feelings is either bad manners or/and a sign of weakness.

‘You are a “negaholic”,’ ‘why not find one good thing to say,’ ‘look on the bright side’ are statements and remarks we have all heard or used ourselves when we or someone else echoed sentiments that made us or others uncomfortable. Whether we were trying to run away from feeling bad or trying to get the other person to view things from our perspective, such behaviour can be damaging.