Acharya Prashant explains that to understand how a relationship turns toxic, one must go to its very beginning. He states that most of the time, a relationship does not really turn toxic; it is toxic in its inception, in its genesis itself. The toxicity just remains hidden when things are rosy and pink. When situations change and become adverse, the toxicity surfaces, and it feels as if the relationship has turned sour, but it hasn't. The foundation of most relationships is a sense of need. A person feels a certain lack within and believes the other person can fulfill it. This need can be emotional, physical, or even financial. You lack something within, and to make up for it, you go to the other person. You are looking at the other person primarily in a utilitarian way; you want to use them to plug a hole within yourself. This is not very different from exploitation. It appears like love, but you just want to use the other person as something that would fill a void. Acharya Prashant further elaborates that this need, this inner hollowness or incompleteness, can never truly be fulfilled by another person. This is why resentment and conflict arise. When the other person fails to provide what was expected, there is annoyance, which can lead to obvious toxicity, including physical or subtle violence. People stay in such relationships because there is a trade-off; they are deriving some pleasure or benefit that they weigh against the humiliation. The ego cannot do anything without getting something in return. If someone tolerates abuse, it's because they are still seeing some benefit in staying. The real solution to toxicity is maturity. The first step is to heal oneself by honestly acknowledging that one is not a victim of the other, but is suffering due to one's own mischief and ignorance. The real solution is not just to physically leave, which he calls an act of escapism and cowardice, but to undergo a spiritual breakup. When you break up in a material way, you leave the house; when you break up in a spiritual way, you leave who you are. This is the great breakup.