Trust is a fundamental part of relationships. Trust refers to our views about how reliable, genuine, and honest we believe others are. People may hold widely different beliefs about how trustworthy others are, from “nobody can be trusted” to "everyone is trustworthy.” Experiences in previous relationships—from childhood caregivers to recent romantic partners and friends—can shape our views on trust. Unfortunately, extreme thinking about others’ trustworthiness can backfire when put to the test in real relationships. For example, if “nobody can be trusted,” then it can be nearly impossible to develop close relationships. However, if “everyone is trustworthy,” we may be more likely to find ourselves in unsafe relationships where we are more likely to be hurt.

Instead of thinking of trust as either fully present or fully absent, it can be helpful to define the various ways you depend on people (or would want to depend on people) and then ask yourself whether different people in your life can be counted on in these ways. For example, trusting might look like reaching out to someone for support when you’ve had a hard day (and believing that they’ll be there for you). Or, it might look like sharing personal information with........

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