People Who Are Mentally & Emotionally Clingy Usually Say 8 Phrases In Casual Conversation
MAYA LAB | ShutterstockIf you've ever had a needy friend, you've probably looked back and wondered how you missed the signs of their emotional and mental clinginess.
They are actually easy to spot once you know what to look for. You can pick them out based on the things they repeatedly say in conversation that help them cling to you as much as possible.
Phrases clingy people say when casually chatting with loved ones:
1. 'We should share locations'
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Mentally and emotionally clingy people love to share locations with everyone they know. That’s not to say everyone who asks you to share your location is clingy. It’s become pretty normal for friends to share locations.
That normalcy has made clingy people feel more comfortable asking for a friend's location. They’ll use it to track where their friend are and constantly check it to see what they're up to. They might even go to where their friend’s location says they are so they can meet up. That’s a huge breach of personal space, though, and a lot of people who are friends with people like this choose not to put up with it.
2. 'Why didn’t you respond?'
Clingy people usually have an anxious attachment style when it comes to love. They want to keep their loved ones as close to them as possible because they're afraid of losing them. This attachment style is what leads them to be clingy in the first place.
A lot of these people will start to feel stressed if their friend doesn't respond to them. It's their insecurity in their ability to maintain healthy relationships coming out. While hearing this can be annoying, it's just a clingy person's way of making sure their friendship is still going strong.
3. 'What are we doing next?'
Clingy people usually want to spend all the time they can with their friends. When they're with them, they won't want the interaction to end.
They'll try to think of new activities so people feel enticed to keep hanging out. That way, people keep hanging out with them without the clingy person having to force them to do so. The phrase implies that there is more to do. It sometimes tricks people into thinking they're supposed to keep hanging out.
4. 'Keep me updated!'
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The digital world has made it so we don’t ever have to disconnect with someone if we don’t want to, and clingy people never want to disconnect.
They often blow up their friends' phones or an entire group chat just to get updates on what everyone’s doing. A more specific example of this is the people who want their friends or boyfriends to text them whenever they get somewhere. They usually justify it by saying they just wanna make sure someone got there safely. That’s probably not true, though. They probably just wanna stay as connected with them as possible.
5. 'Can I crash here?'
Emotionally needy people tend to overstep their friend's boundaries a lot. They usually don't see how their actions negatively impact other people. These people might not understand that it can be a lot to host someone else.
This isn't a situation that happens once in a while either. This is an every Saturday night ask. Even if they have their own place, clingy people tend to make themselves guests at other people's houses by asking. People feel pressured by their requests and let them. This fuels the clingy person's bad behavior, though, because then they learn that asking people to stay will let them get more time with the person.
6. 'I don't want to go alone'
Social anxiety and clinginess can be confused, but the main difference is that a clingy person doesn't want to go alone because they fear abandonment.
They don't necessarily have anxiety in social situations. They just want the people they feel dependent on with them. It's a matter of wanting to be with the person they feel attached to versus fearing being alone in an uncomfortable situation.
7. 'I can help'
A needy person wants to prove their value. They'll offer to help their friend so they can spend time with them and become indispensable to some degree.
They also might be hoping this will cause their friend to rely on them. Helping someone with whatever they need is often a tactic used by people in co-dependent relationships to get the other person to stay by their side.
8. 'Do you like them more than me?'
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Insecurity and jealousy are common emotions in needy people, and when other friends or family members take time away from the person they feel attached to, those emotions become hard to suppress.
They might become worried that their friend prefers hanging out with the other person and decide to ask them, "Do you like them more than me?" Their insecurity can cause them to question their friendship even when nothing is wrong.
Lily Bell is a college student studying English and Publications who covers relationships, mental health, and personal narratives surrounding the human experience.
