Psychological boundaries are the lines that define where you end and another person begins in a relationship: what is acceptable to you, which values you do not negotiate, and which behaviors you will not tolerate. They are not walls to isolate, but frameworks that make real intimacy possible. Without limits, relationships become fusion or submission.
Concept origin
The concept was developed in systemic family psychology by Minuchin (1974), who described diffuse (enmeshed families) and rigid (disengaged families) boundaries. Young's schema therapy (1990) integrated it into individual work, describing self-sacrifice and subjugation schemas.
Therapeutic approach
Setting boundaries is a skill practiced gradually: 1) identify what you need (not what the other lacks); 2) communicate it in first person ("I need..."), without apologies or aggression; 3) hold it with concrete consequences. CBT assertiveness training is the most structured framework for learning this.
Related concepts
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