Like in basketball games where a player's missed shot attempt by the offensive team results in hitting either the backboard, the rim, or both, rebound relationship like the name resonates, is also a way of subbing the second person in the relationship after ending a romantic relationship without necessarily healing from the former relationship.
These kinds of relationships mostly happen speedily after the break-ups. Rebounds are actually more and more common during modern times when people separate and reunite.
Rebound relationships are unhealthy, but it is a behaviour that is captivating the millennials. The situation may not change very soon. People end up in rebound relationships, and often, those rebound relationships do not work out for kinds of reasons.
According to Coach Clay Andrews, rebound relationships have a pretty poor track record of working out because they are typically emotionally unavailable, and they just want to show the world that they are in a relationship.
"Typically, in a rebound relationship, when they start experiencing degrees of emotional availability that when they are going to experience, they will start to thaw it out a little bit, and they will start actually to repel the other person who is maybe lagging in their emotional availability, or maybe just close-off emotionally," he said.
"And in a sort of long-term relationship, emotionally unavailable patterns for other reasons, and this is why rebound relationships have such a poor track record as someone steps into emotional availability, the one who is further behind in their emotional availability…one of them just loses the drive in relationship. And that is when a lot of problem starts to show up."
Detailing Rebound Relationship Stages
Firstly, the person bumping into the relationship at such a speed project will sometimes be positive of the person. Sometimes these second choices might have the same tastes and lifestyles as their former lovers because they want to copy the relationship they had before.
In another scenario, they will try to do the opposite things, purposely to try to convince them that they really don't like their former lovers, and they will do precisely the opposite. But the critical part is that they haven't gotten enough time to heal from the former relationship, and the person is trying to continue enjoying the advantages they just got out of.
According to Coach Lee, the person will begin to see you as an artificial, and then they begin to lose attraction for this person.
Seeking relief through easy romance
This indicates that the break-up was tough, they didn't break up with you, they probably avoided the situation. So they wrestled with it, and it was hard for them because they still want and they don't want to hurt you.
It was just a hard move to do because they just wanted relief, and if their genuine feelings for their ex's appear back they will be infused with the limerence and want them back in the future during a relief period.
An artificial feeling fades away
At this rebound relationship stage, the relationship will lose taste once this artificial feeling fades away. They will start to feel it's artificial, the ex's will start to feel that the relationship is artificial, and this marks the beginning of the relationship's demise. All the events they enjoyed together will rebound back, and everything about the new relationship will perish.
Nostalgia and getting back to the EX
As earlier levels are dealing with distractions, this rebound relationship stage will start to have deep analysis and comparisons with the experiences they had with their former lovers, from how they dressed, ate, kissed and walked, plus the habits and physical similarities and differences. After this level, they will start regretting and feel disappointed. Whatever result will come out of the comparison will be judgmental because the relationship did not begin with a solid emotional connection.
At this stage, they will want to reconnect with their ex's, and the person in the rebound relationship will feel it the one way to make the rebound relationship work, according to experts, is to have a no-contact approach so to let them contrast with their new lovers.