Stage 8: Stagnating

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 445.

Stage 7: Circumscribing

In stage 7, both the quality and the quantity of communication between the interactants decrease. Sometimes a careful effort is made to limit areas open for discussion to those considered "safe." Other times there is no actual decrease in breadth of topics, but the topics are no longer discussed with any real depth. In other words, fewer and less intimate disclosures are made, signaling that mental or physical withdrawal from the relationship is desired.²⁸ Dynamic communication has all but ceased; the relationship is characterized by lack of energy, shrinking interest, and a general feeling of exhaustion.

When circumscribing continues, the relationship stagnates. In stage 8, the par­ticipants feel that they no longer need to relate to each other because they know how the interaction will proceed; thus, they conclude that it is "better to say nothing." Communication is at a standstill. Only the shadow of a relation­ship remains: the participants mark time by going through the motions while feeling nothing. In reality, they are like strangers inhabiting the hollow shell of what once was a thriving relationship. They still live in the same environment, but they share little else.