10 Ways to Tell You’re Being Emotionally Manipulated and How to Avoid It
With the intention of having some kind of benefit or control over others in their surroundings, some people are capable of emotionally manipulating their peers. Most often they will use dishonest or exploitative strategies that you should try to avoid at all costs so you don’t get tangled up in their issues. Of course, keep in mind that in some way, we can all be somewhat manipulative. However, if it is something that we notice starts happening all the time, we should be attentive and handle things carefully to avoid being hurt and to stop encouraging this type of situation in our environment.
buzzarticles did some research to figure out what the most common techniques emotional manipulators use and came up with a list of some of them so that you can tell when someone’s trying to use them on you.
1. They don’t want to do something even if they say they do, and then they avoid direct confrontation.
When confronting this kind of situation, it’s recommended to make the person who presents passive-aggressive behavior see that they are responsible for their faults. That way they’ll stop blaming you if that’s the case. At the same time, this will help you put your needs first and by doing so you’ll avoid falling into their trap, which is set to make you take the blame. In any case, it’s essential to avoid playing games with people who have been shown to have manipulative personalities. Never confront the situation from an angry place. Instead, think about your health and your happiness first.
2. They make other people feel embarrassed so they will come to them in a vulnerable state.
To deal with this, it’s best not to get into a power struggle. This advice, of course, holds true in most cases, but it’s especially relevant when dealing with manipulators. Remember that if the aggressor’s actions and words cease to affect us, the manipulator will end up feeling ashamed of their behavior at some point. If someone insists on highlighting a past mistake you or someone else made over and over again, let them know that it’s not important and that it no longer matters.
