All people are unique and different in their own ways and so are our relationships.
There are so many different types of couples we all come across at least once in our life.
Some of those couples can really annoy us with their relationship but there are some of them who are so perfect together and who can make us simply fall in love with their relationship and the way they love and care for each other.
Whether you’re in a relationship or your relationship status is single, if you want to find out how many different types of couples and relationships are out there, continue reading below.
The happy couple
This is one of those couples who are always smiling and who make other people jealous of their relationship.
They are perfect for double dates because everybody enjoys their company.
Little things make them happy the most and they really enjoy every moment of their lives.
They both have a great sense of humor and they never allow other people to affect their mood.
The best friends couple
The fact is that all couples should be best friends and not just romantic partners if they want a healthy relationship.
Unfortunately, however, only a few couples succeed in it.
Those best-friends couples do everything together and they have the same interests and hobbies.
They have many friends beside their partner but they know that they’re their only true friend.
Communication is the most important thing for these kinds of couples.
They trust their partner the most and they’re not afraid to open up to them and talk about anything.
The bond between them is incredibly strong and no one can ever break them up.
The high school sweetheart couple
They’re each other’s first love and will probably be each other’s last too.
All people envy them and how they succeed to have such a serious and strong long-term relationship.
They were the most popular couple in high school. The people around them can’t understand how they never get bored of each other.
Their future is already planned and they work hard to fulfill all their goals and dreams together.
They have already gone through a lot together and know each other the best and they would never allow anyone to separate them.
The crazy-in-love couple
These kinds of couples just don’t know to hide how much they love each other.
They always hold hands in public, hug and kiss each other and it sometimes seems like they think they’re all alone in this world.
They send each other dozens of romantic messages when they aren’t together.
They fell madly in love with each other the first time they met, it was just love at first sight, and they still love each other the same.
They’re completely sure that they’re each other’s soulmate.
Many people around them are envious of their love because it truly seems like a fairy tale.
When you see them and how crazy in love they are, you can just assume they’re headed to the altar.
The old-school couple
Relationships are a lot different (and more difficult to maintain) today than they were in the past.
That’s why some couples decide to date in an old-fashioned way.
These couples don’t like social media and it’s likely that neither one of them uses it and even if they do, they never post anything on their profiles.
They think that less technology brings more love.
They’re true gentlemen and ladies. They use every chance to show appreciation to their partner and to prove their love through some small but very important gestures.
The chill couple
There are some couples who seem way too chill to other people. It seems like they don’t care for each other at all, even if they have been dating for some time.
They don’t have the same interests and they don’t have any mutual friends.
Every time they have a disagreement and break up, they don’t talk for several days and then they continue dating as if nothing has happened.
You will never see them cuddling or being romantic.
They never discuss their future together because they live day to day and they don’t like to plan anything ahead.
The age-gap couple
True love doesn’t care about age, can you agree with me?
There are some couples who are real-life proof of that and they never allow their age difference to affect their relationship.
They aren’t ashamed to talk about their age gap because they don’t consider it taboo. They’re proud of their relationship.
Maybe their interests and views of life are completely different but still, their love is strong enough to overcome it all.
The long-distance couple
Having a long-distance relationship is really hard and it requires a lot of effort to make it work but some couples have more than successful ones.
Distance means nothing for them because their love and the bond between them are strong enough to endure it all.
They spend all of their free time together, when it’s possible, of course.
They go on vacations together and try to spend a lot of time with each other to make up for all the lost time.
The couple who are ‘only’ friends with benefits
There are some couples who say they’re only friends with benefits but they can’t actually live without each other.
Maybe they’re afraid of being in a serious relationship or they think their love life will change after they make it official.
However, there are feelings on both sides for sure.
The question is how much they’ll succeed in lying to themselves.
Sooner or later, they will understand that they love each other and they’ll start dating.
On the other hand, there are some couples who really enjoy being just friends with benefits.
It works for both of them and they don’t think about the future or changing their relationship status anytime soon.
The office couple
Hmm, this is probably the most complicated relationship.
There are those couples who hide their office relationship because they’re afraid it might harm their job, while there are those who really enjoy dating their colleague and they like spending the best part of the day with their partner.
Everybody in the office knows that they’re dating and they support them completely.
However, breaking up could be a problem for an office couple.
The PDA couple
Well, I think this is one of those couples who annoy all the people around them.
There is nothing wrong with showing your loved one how much you love them in public but there should be boundaries.
Most people would probably resent their PDA-ing. No matter whether you’re a married couple or not, it’s annoying for most people.
There are really some things that couples should be doing only behind closed doors.
The possessive couple
The worst thing is when two overly jealous people start a relationship.
You see, there are some important rules for a healthy relationship and one of them is that one partner always needs to be water while the other one is fire.
You have to set some boundaries and mutually respect each other.
These possessive couples never allow each other to hang out with their friends without them because they’re afraid that they might meet someone new or do something that could harm their relationship.
You have to know that your partner has a life besides your relationship.
Possessive behavior is unhealthy and those kinds of couples probably wouldn’t stay together for too long.
The couple who are most definitely soulmates
If you believe in destiny, then you probably believe that some people are really meant to be.
They complete each other perfectly and when you just look at them, you know that true love exists.
They have disagreements like we all do, of course but they talk about it only when they’re alone.
They don’t like other people to realize that they had a fight or have some issues in their relationship.
They can’t imagine a future without one another.
They could be spending every day together and they still would never get bored of each other.
The competitive couple
Some people strive to be the best at their job so they work hard to accomplish all of their future goals and dreams. They’re highly intelligent and ambitious.
However, it could represent a problem if both partners in a relationship are like this.
They wouldn’t want to accept the fact that their partner is better than them at something and soon, their relationship would turn into a competition.
The power couple
A power couple is two people who work hard to enable a better future for themselves. They support each other no matter what.
They believe in each other’s dreams and they always motivate their partner to be better every single day.
Those power couples will always be the ones whom all people are envious of.
They strive for success.
Every other couple wants to go on a double date with them and when you see them, you can’t help but ask how they manage to do everything so perfectly.
The complete opposites couple
These kinds of couples are living proof that opposites do attract.
They have completely different characters, different opinions and perspectives about some things but still, they don’t allow those diversities to harm their connection.
Compromising is the most important rule in their relationship and their differences are actually the reason why the spark in their relationship never dies.
Even though they don’t have many things in common, their relationship is still perfectly happy and strong.
They respect each other and their differences and they embrace them.
The always-fighting couple
Do you know one of these couples who are always fighting, whether they’re alone or in public?
Nobody feels comfortable in their company, right?
They fight over every little thing and sometimes they argue even without any reason.
All the people around them expect them to end their relationship soon.
Every couple needs to know how to fix their issues and conflicts in a healthy way.
We can all argue and fight when we’re not okay with something, it’s the easiest thing but remember that nothing good can come of it.
The dramatic couple
We all know that one couple who break up every time they have a fight.
Both partners simply radiate that negative energy and their relationship gets too toxic, too soon.
Because of a lack of boundaries, their relationship is doomed for sure.
They don’t have many friends because no one likes to be involved in their drama and whenever they have a conflict, they make their friends choose sides.
Some people just crave drama in their relationship as if it’s something they really enjoy.
Drama King and Queen couples can be really irritating to the people around them.
The adventure couple
Some people live for having fun and enjoying life and when two people like that find each other, you get an adventure couple.
They live in the present and never think about their past or future, as that’s a waste of time for them. They have their circle of friends and every day is a new and fun adventure for them.
They travel together, explore new places and do new things all the time.
They always look for some new activities that will give them an adrenaline rush.
They’re focused only on making memories and making every day count.
The couple who have become addicted to every social network
Unfortunately, there are so many of these social network addict couples among us.
Our news feed is always full of their selfies and it can really be annoying.
They post everything on their social media; what they eat, where they go on vacation, what they bought each other for anniversaries… and so many other things from their personal life and relationship.
They always Tweet about how much they love and miss each other or Google romantic quotes and songs for their status update.
Sharing everything they do on their social media is actually just a sign of their insecurities.
The five types of couples according to Dr. John Gottman
In his book, Principia Amoris: The New Science of Love, an American clinician and psychological researcher wrote about relationship-assessment techniques.
The author, Dr. John Gottman, categorized couples into five different groups and explained their relationships.
Those five types of relationships between couples are conflict-avoiding, volatile, validating, hostile and hostile-detached.
Continue reading below to find out the explanation for each.
The conflict avoiders
As the name implies, these kinds of couples try to avoid conflict and disagreements as if that’s how those issues will disappear.
They think that their communication is good and healthy the way it is and they never work on improving it.
They are actually afraid to tell each other how they really feel sometimes because they think it might harm their relationship.
They have differences like any other couple but they choose not to speak about them because they think that’s how they both will be happy with the relationship.
The volatile couples
Volatile couples are the total opposite of conflict-avoidant couples; they’re too emotional and dramatic.
When they have a disagreement about something, both partners stick to their own opinion and they won’t let it go without a discussion or debate.
They’re never disrespectful but both partners like to discuss the issues they have in their relationship and express their opinions about them.
The validating couples
These kinds of couples are exactly somewhere in the middle between conflict avoiders and volatile couples.
Healthy communication is the most important part of their relationship.
They don’t make a drama about everything but they do discuss their problems and issues very often.
They always support each other and try to understand why their partner did something before they act on or talk about it.
However, power struggle can be a problem in this kind of relationship.
Both partners are very competitive and want to do things their way but in most cases, they find a way to compromise in the end.
The hostile couples
They’re similar to validating couples but the difference is that hostile couples need more time to cool down and compromise about some things.
In Dr. Gottman’s research of heterosexual couples, wives were usually the conflict-avoiders and husbands were validators.
You know, those kinds of couples where the girl doesn’t like to argue and avoids any type of conflict, whereas the other side likes to get everything cleared up.
Hostile couples aren’t so supportive or understanding.
They criticize each other a lot and very soon their relationship becomes unhealthy and toxic.
The hostile-detached couples
This kind of relationship is doomed for sure. It’s not actually a relationship, it’s a battlefield where one partner is a validator while the other one is volatile.
Volatile partners will be too emotional during conflicts and validators won’t ever be empathetic or try and understand them.
A hostile couple will always find a way to solve their issues while a hostile-detached couple won’t be able to embrace their differences and work out their problems.
Now that you’ve learned what types of couples there are, can you tell what kind of couple you and your bae are?
These different types of couples can help you realize whether your relationship is healthy or not and whether it’s doomed or not.
No matter what type of couple you are, there’s always room to improve your relationship.
There are so many different types of couple therapy that can help your partner and you to have a healthier and better relationship.
As you can see yourself, the most important thing for a good relationship is to learn to communicate in a healthy way, as that’s the only way you can make your relationship work.