Platonic Love
Life’s challenges can be overwhelming; everyone deserves a space to feel heard and supported. At Roamers Therapy, we provide trauma-informed, culturally sensitive, LGBTQIA+ affirming, and evidence-based environments to help you heal, grow, and navigate your mental well-being journey. As your psychotherapist, we are here to guide you every step of the way.
Find the Best Therapist in Chicago for Navigating Platonic Relationships
Though often equated with friendship, platonic relationships expand beyond friendship and encapsulate a deep bond without sexual and romantic aspects. Platonic love refers to the intense emotional connection that develops in platonic relationships. Platonic relationships include friendships, community members, family, coworkers and classmates, roommates, and many others. Familial love is a specific type of platonic love.
Friendship vs. Platonic Love
Both friendship and platonic relationships tend to have emotional connections. However, when people experience platonic love, they also experience deeper and more intense emotional bonds with one another. Platonic relationships also tend to be based on mutual trust and shared interests, whereas friendships tend to be based on mutual respect and support. Friendships can become platonic relationships and develop platonic love.
Benefits of Platonic Love
There are many benefits to platonic love. These include:
- Emotional support
- Community
- Better moods
- Decreased risk of health problems
- Decreased feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and depression
- Increased resilience
- Thought-provoking and engaging conversations
What to Watch Out For?
Like romantic relationships, there are things we need to watch out for and learn to navigate in platonic relationships. These include:
- Jealousy and betrayal
- Anxious Attachment
- Avoidant Attachment
- Ghosting
- Unhealthy boundaries
- Poor communication
- Bidding
- Conflict
It’s important to remember that relationship problems affect all relationships.
How to Build Platonic Relationships
Building platonic relationships can be difficult, but it does not have to be. Here are some tips:
- Surround yourself with people who share similar interests.
- Show initiative in making connections, like asking someone to hang out.
- Allow yourself to be vulnerable with others, and allow others to be vulnerable with you.
- Get curious about the interests of others.
- Make kind gestures that show you care about those special individuals in your life.
- Celebrate special milestones.
Platonic Breakups
Platonic breakups are the less talked about breakups, and while we often don’t think about them, platonic relationships do end. Many people share that they find it more difficult to overcome platonic breakups than romantic or sexual ones. Going through these breakups can be very difficult, confusing, and isolating. It’s important to surround yourself with people you love.
Platonic Date Ideas
Some ideas to do with your platonic relationships include:
- Having picnics
- Going to museums
- Taking an art class
- Attending a concert
- Taking cooking classes
- Having game nights
- Going thrifting
- Going to a bookstore
- Going on a nice dinner
- Volunteering somewhere together
At Roamers Therapy, our psychotherapists are here to support you through anxiety, depression, trauma and relationship issues, race-ethnicity issues, LGBTQIA+ issues, ADHD, Autism, or any challenges you encounter. Our psychotherapists are trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Acceptance, and Commitment Therapy, Person-Centered Therapy, and Gottman Therapy.
Whether you’re seeking guidance on a specific issue or need help navigating difficult emotions, we’re ready to assist you every step of the way.
Contact us today to learn more about our services and schedule a session with our mental health professionals to begin your healing journey. To get started with therapy, visit our booking page.
First, decide if you’ll be paying out-of-pocket or using insurance. If you’re a self-pay client, you can book directly through the “Book Now” page or fill out the “Self-Pay/Out-of-network Inquiry Form.” If you’re using insurance, fill out the “Insurance Verification Form” to receive details about your costs and availability. Please let us know your preferred therapist. If your preferred therapist isn’t available, you can join the waitlist by emailing us. Once your appointment is confirmed, you’ll receive intake documents to complete before your first session.
This page is also part of the Roamers Therapy Glossary; a collection of mental-health related definitions that are written by our therapists.
While our offices are currently located at the South Loop neighborhood of Downtown Chicago, Illinois, we also welcome and serve clients for online therapy from anywhere in Illinois and Washington, D.C. Clients from the Chicagoland area may choose in-office or online therapy and usually commute from surrounding areas such as River North, West Loop, Gold Coast, Old Town, Lincoln Park, Lake View, Rogers Park, Logan Square, Pilsen, Bridgeport, Little Village, Bronzeville, South Shore, Hyde Park, Back of the Yards, Wicker Park, Bucktown and many more. You can visit our contact page to access detailed information on our office location.