Platonic love can develop in adulthood as well. Let’s explore its characteristics and risks, and identify when red flags should arise. A platonic relationship lacks romantic or sexual elements but goes beyond the boundaries of “just friends.”
Characteristics of Platonic Love in Adulthood
Friendships can exist on many levels, but platonic loves are deeper and often involve traits associated with intimacy, such as emotional support, care, and empathy. Several analyses identify additional features, including:
- Acceptance: Appreciating each other’s qualities.
- Loyalty: A sense of camaraderie and protection.
- Understanding: Knowing what the other person needs or expects, often through the bond alone.
- Trust: Relying on the person without doubt.
- Authenticity: Feeling like you can truly be yourself around them.
- Companionship: A sense of comfort and security in each other’s presence.
- Joy: Experiencing positive, enriching, and happy moments together.
- Growth: Encouraging and supporting each other toward positive life outcomes.
- Gratitude: Appreciating the person’s presence in your life.
- Closeness: Considering someone as close as family.
Platonic Love can be deeper in Adulthood
Deep conversations provide insight into the other person’s mind and foster stronger commitment. However, such connections can also be misleading. The more you communicate with your platonic love, the more convinced you might feel that destiny brought you together.
What keeps the relationship at a platonic level is when the other person doesn’t experience it with the same depth as you. Despite this, the conversations themselves can still have a profoundly positive impact on them.
Risks of Platonic Love in Adulthood
According to the psychological theory of social exchange, the more benefits a relationship offers compared to its drawbacks, the more likely you are to maintain it.
Over time, however, accumulating negatives—such as unrequited longing—can be frustrating, regardless of how close you feel to your platonic love.
Potential pitfalls and risks of platonic love include:
- Crossing Boundaries: A lack of care or concern for maintaining boundaries.
- Friends with Benefits: Engaging in sexual interactions without a desire for a real relationship from either party.
- Repeated Rejection: Continuously feeling close to someone who knows you intimately but doesn’t reciprocate the same platonic love. Simply put, just because you’re attracted to someone doesn’t mean they share your feelings or intentions.
While platonic relationships lack romantic love, they can be among the strongest bonds we form throughout our lives.
Professional Source:
What It Means to Have Platonic Love – PsychCentral
