We often use terms like “toxic relationship” or “abusive relationship” to describe situations where one person is systematically harming another. But this language can blur the truth. It turns abuse into a mutual problem—an issue of “compatibility” or “communication”—rather than a pattern of harm enacted by one person onto another. This is especially dangerous in cases of narcissistic abuse, where manipulation, gaslighting, emotional erosion, and coercive control are often subtle and insidious.