Why do I feel like I can't trust anyone completely?

Feeling like you can't trust anyone completely often develops from past experiences of betrayal, abandonment, or hurt that taught you that people are fundamentally unreliable or dangerous. This might stem from childhood experiences with inconsistent caregivers, betrayal by close friends or romantic partners, or traumatic experiences that shattered your basic sense of safety in Interpersonal relationship. When trust has been broken repeatedly or in particularly painful ways, your nervous system learns to be hypervigilant about potential threats, making it difficult to relax into vulnerability even with people who have proven themselves trustworthy. Trust issues can also develop from growing up in environments where emotional safety wasn't guaranteed - perhaps where family members were unpredictable, where secrets and lies were common, or where expressing vulnerability led to being hurt or manipulated. These early experiences create templates for Interpersonal relationship that can persist into Adult, making you assume that everyone will eventually disappoint or betray you. Sometimes trust issues stem from your own experiences of being untrustworthy, leading you to project that others might be similarly unreliable. If you've broken promises, lied, or hurt others, you might assume that everyone operates with similar motivations. Anxiety disorder and Major depressive disorder can also contribute to trust issues by creating negative thought patterns that make you interpret neutral behaviors as signs of potential betrayal or rejection. The challenge with complete distrust is that it prevents the deep connections that make life meaningful and fulfilling. While some caution in Interpersonal relationship is healthy and protective, complete inability to trust keeps you isolated and prevents you from experiencing the support and love that healthy Interpersonal relationship can provide. emotional healing trust issues often involves gradually taking small risks with people who have demonstrated reliability and safety over time. This might mean sharing minor vulnerabilities and seeing how people respond, or observing whether people follow through on small commitments before trusting them with bigger things. It's important to distinguish between reasonable caution based on someone's actual behavior and projecting past hurts onto new Interpersonal relationship. Working with a therapist can help you process past betrayals and develop skills for assessing trustworthiness in others while gradually opening yourself to connection.