ABSTRACT
Whenever two people communicate, they risk hurting each other. The closer people are emotionally and the more often they interact, the greater the likelihood that one or both will feel hurt. Indeed, some researchers argue that hurt and intimacy are intrinsically linked (L’Abate, 1977, 1999)— that intimacy requires a degree of vulnerability and that the vulnerability associated with intimacy leaves people open to being hurt. Although there is broad agreement that hurt is bound to be a part of any close relationship, the defining characteristics of hurt and the features that distinguish it from other emotions are not entirely clear.
