08/31/2026
The silent treatment says more about the person doing it than it does about the person receiving it, Daryl Austin wrote in 2021: https://theatln.tc/5oEytG4S
It might be employed by passive personality types to avoid conflict, while strong personality types use it as a means of punishment or control. Some people, so flooded with emotion that they shut down, may not even consciously choose it at all. For others, it’s literally addicting. “Most people who start giving the silent treatment never intend for it to go on for as long as it does, but it can be very difficult to stop,” Kipling Williams, a psychology professor, told Austin. “It’s psychological quicksand.”
Many of those who are subject to the silent treatment become anxious, withdrawn, depressed, or even suicidal. One study found that it provokes the same areas of the brain as physical abuse. Of course, the silent treatment harms the person causing it too. It goes against human nature to ignore someone and, in order to justify the behavior, the perpetrator keeps in mind all of the reasons they’re choosing to ignore someone. “You end up living in a constant state of anger and negativity,” Williams said.
Read more about the silent treatment, who it hurts, and why it’s so dangerous at the link.
🎨: Getty / Adam Maida / The Atlantic
