People have heard about emotional manipulation but have not heard about what it is. simply refer to those used by an individual to control or alter another person’s emotion for their own good. This is a form of psychological abuse found in any kind of relationship-romantic, familial, or even professional. Some effects include confusion, self-doubt, and low self-esteem. Hence, knowing the signs of emotional manipulation is critical to identifying when it happens, allowing one to figure out ways to protect oneself from the harmful effects.
What is Emotional Manipulation? Emotional manipulation involves someone trying to manipulate or control the way another person feels, often for personal gain. This can be subtle and often undetectable or gun-barrel blatant. Through guilt, gaslighting, or playing victim, the manipulation focuses the light away from the simple behavior to be watched by the manipulated person. Over time, it causes emotional damage along with putting the person in a corner compliant or helpless.
Why is Emotional Manipulation Dangerous?
Emotional manipulation is dangerous because it can undermine a person’s emotional and mental well-being. An emotional manipulator will control, dominate and have their prey see things as their responsibilities, even the ones that they did not cause, as well as repeatedly put-downs: those things will include fatigue, anxiety, depression and even critical mental disorders. This is the moment when an individual is usually losing his personal identity and thus becomes more vulnerable to manipulation. The wounds that this kind of emotional manipulation typically inflicts take ages to heal even after the relationship has ended.
Signs of Emotional Manipulation You Shouldn’t Ignore
Understanding the signs of emotional manipulation is key to protecting yourself from its damaging effects. Here are the essential signs you should never ignore:
Blaming You for Everything
Manipulators rarely hold accountability for their actions, which is one of the emotional abuse red flags. They will err and find ways to blame everything on you, whether it be misunderstandings, an argument, or a mistake. They will twist it in such a way that you are all to blame for everything. That creates havoc because you constantly think that you are wrongly at fault even when there is a situation.
Example: After the fight, the manipulative friend says that the person is in a bad mood because of you, as you did not understand him or her properly.
Playing the Victim
This is a really interesting form of belonging to manipulators. They build up a scenario to become more misinformed by playing gloomy and depressed feelings on their miseries and dangers to deliver you much pressure and guilt to get things right for them at every moment. In the opinion of such manipulators, exaggerated misfortune also converts victors into losers. Actually, you’ll become a bewitching victim who does tend to fall prey to this.
Example: A colleague is quite often complaining about how hard their life really is, and they seem to squeeze a little sympathy out of you through your empathy so you can cover for them on the mistakes at work.
Using Guilt to Control You
Guilt-tripping is manipulation at its best. The manipulator makes you feel guilty either for having boundaries or not meeting his expectations. It invokes utter phrases like, “If you really cared about me, you would do this for me,” or “I’ve done so much for you, and this is how you repay me.” The manipulator is making you feel selfish or ungrateful if you fail to comply with such.
Example: If you were a parent who hounded your child time and again on how much one has sacrificed for them, it will invoke so much guilt at the end of the day when one fails to meet the expectations of such a parent.
Excessive Flattery or Love Bombing
Guilty Manipulators use flattery and over the top praise to manipulate you. Just in the beginning of the relationship, he splashes you with flattery and attention so that it makes you feel special and privileged. His goal is to hook you and then let you know he has possession of your feelings because you’re already more attached to him with the possibility of activity where you share in your misery.
Example: A romantic partner lavishes all her compliments and affection early into the relationship by making one feel like the center of the universe, only to later use it against him.
Creating Drama or Conflict
Manipulative relationship behaviors often involve purposely creating drama or misunderstandings with the idea of chaos and control over things crawling slowly. In this way, things remain dynamic and unsettled. Thus keeping you distracted, it will be quite difficult for you to concentrate on the real problems, thus also making it possible for you to overlook all of their manipulative acts. It would have emotionally drained you by bringing you up and down in that relationship constantly.
Example: A colleague nearly always creates unnecessary scenes in the office turning minor misunderstandings into major issues and putting everybody up on edge and thus apt threatening to work with her.
Dismissing Your Feelings or Needs
They act as though denying your feelings, causing you to think that they are either worthless or not at all very important. They always say “You’re overreacting” or “It is not a matter of concern,” whenever you speak about it. Your nerves would suffer from being an active participant in such a process, making it all feel really good and having you insignificant within such a relationship.
Example: A partner downplays the difficulties and assures that one goes beyond the limit and has conclusions made out from it.
How to Protect Yourself from Emotional Manipulation?
Identifying Signs of emotional manipulation is indeed the first step for self-prevention. Here are some ways to protect your emotions:
- Trust Your Instincts: If something is wrong in a relationship, trust your instincts. Emotional manipulators make you feel uncomfortable or confused. Observe those.
- Set Boundaries: Set and maintain healthy boundaries with people. Do not be afraid to say ‘no’ and defend your time, energy, and emotions.
- Clear Communication: Let people know what your feelings and needs are, and do not allow them to dismiss it. Understandably, healthy mutual relationships can only be nurtured where two people respect and understand one another.
- Seek Support: If you are into a manipulative relationship, consult a friend, family member, or therapist you can trust. An outside opinion can be looked at from another angle and help you find the mistake in the relationship.
- Distance Yourself from Toxic People: If someone constantly manipulates you, cut them off no matter how hard it can be. Your psychological and emotional well-being should always come first.
How Helply Can Support You in Overcoming Emotional Manipulation?
Helply, your trusted mental health consultant, can provide invaluable support in dealing with Emotional manipulation tactics . Through personalized counseling sessions, Helply helps you identify and understand manipulative behaviours, thus empowering you to set healthy boundaries and seize control of your emotions. Their compassionate team offers tools to help rebuild self-confidence and launder the emotional scars of manipulation. For example, Helply would assist any individual in better communication, retrieving their independence, or healing from events in their past-experiences.
