Unresolved issues often result in people blaming others for the way they feel. If, for example, someone feels unhappy because of the way a boyfriend cheated on her in college, she could attribute this unhappiness to a variety of other things. She could tell herself that college was a long time ago, but she's angry now because her current boyfriend left the butter out on the counter. So, if the issue goes unresolved the woman likely will continue to think that her unhappiness is coming from current, benign problems rather than her past, major problem.

Unresolved issues often go unresolved because the people who have them refuse to confront them. Rather, they just tell themselves that they don't have any problems and that everything is fine. This is a major emotional effect because it creates a subconscious identity crisis. People who are lying to themselves don't really know themselves and therefore find it harder to get to know other people.

Unresolved issues often boil over. If you don't talk about the things that are bothering you, but rather just try to ignore them and push them aside, one person in a relationship might simply leave. This is an extremely negative emotional effect because not only is one person leaving, the person with the unresolved issues will be caught off guard. What's more, it is now too late to resolve these issues. If you wait too long to resolve your issues you risk them becoming far more pronounced and causing so much damage that there's no going back.

Unresolved issues create a barrier in a relationship. The unresolved issues affect your every word and action, keeping you from acting like yourself. This in turn makes it harder for your partner to get close to you, because the issues are polluting your every word and action. So this results in a relationship that is not as close or intimate as it could be.