Hey Psych2goers! Welcome back to another video! This video is inspired by “Mo Re”’s
comment! So here it is! Have you experienced emotional manipulation
or would like to protect yourself from it? Well, everyone can be emotionally manipulative
towards others, even if they don’t intend to be. However, true manipulators perform each action
deliberately and do so on a constant basis. Manipulation is when an individual controls
another person’s emotions, behavior, and thought processes in order to satisfy a personal
need. If you feel like someone is actively exploiting
you or influencing you in a harmful way, here are seven examples of emotional manipulation
to be aware of. One: Guilt-tripping Has someone ever tried to make you feel like
the guilty one during an argument? “I never thought you would do this,” “I’ve
always trusted you,” “You want ME to pay for this meal?” Emotional manipulators use guilt trips to
voice their thoughts in a passive-aggressive way. They do so in order to avoid direct confrontation,
which can be awkward and uncomfortable. If your actions don’t align with their goals,
they may try to make you feel guilty. In response, you may start to overthink their
statements and eventually blame yourself for everything. Two: Taking advantage of your insecurities Have you ever seen beauty advertisements that
display a model’s flawless skin, with words like “eternal youth” or “smooth as butter”
underneath the image? Although advertisements nowadays promote inclusivity
and try to embrace flaws, it’s not uncommon for companies to indirectly utilize people’s
insecurities to promote their products. The same goes for interpersonal relationships. People may refer to others’ body image,
appearance, or habits, hoping that the other person will improve themselves. However, someone may do this with malicious
intent to make you feel bad about yourself so that they can gain more confidence. Three: Always changing the criteria Someone might constantly shift the criteria
of what they want in order to manipulate the other person. For example, your friend may be upset about
your behavior and asks you to be more caring of others. Once you observe your mistakes and make efforts
to fix them, your friend still remains unhappy about the way you speak and asks you to change
that as well. In essence, you may never achieve their desired
requests. In this case, remember to just strive to do
your best to put effort into your friendship without letting them walk all over you and
your boundaries. Four: Twisting reality When conversing with someone else, you may
have exaggerated or emphasized certain facts over others, which is completely normal. What emotional manipulators do, however, is
completely twist facts in order to confuse you, gain sympathy, or achieve other goals. Many times, they do so to make themselves
seem vulnerable. For instance, they may rant over how someone
“mistreated” them when in reality there was only a simple miscommunication. Although it’s hard to detect when they are
lying, try to observe their body language and tone when they recite these so-called
“facts.” Five: Diminishing your issues Everyone’s experiences in life are different,
and so are the problems that each person encounters. When someone tries to invalidate your experience
by saying things like “you think that’s a problem? Well how about my time with this …” or
“be grateful for your issues; they are nothing compared to mine,” take note of what their
intentions are. They might be influencing your emotions, making
you feel bad for sharing your problems when in reality, everyone’s experience should
be respected. Six: Gaslighting This is a type of emotional abuse whereby
a person tries to make another doubt their perception of reality. This person might make the victim question
if their memories were accurate or even if their train of thought was valid. For example, when you recite an emotional
story about how your beloved pet passed away, an acquaintance might interrupt and tell you
that the event is small and you shouldn’t feel as sad as you are. The truth is, only you know what you are experiencing
and your emotions are all valid. Seven: Overly complimenting On the other end of the spectrum, some people
will try to sugarcoat everything they say. Sweet talkers will try to influence you by
excessively praising and complimenting what you do, say, or even think. Initially, you may feel flattered, and it’s
fine to enjoy those initial boosts of happiness. However, you may want to watch out if this
person praises you too much. In a way, you may subconsciously lower your
self-defense and blindly trust this person who could try to emotionally manipulate you
later down the road. So, have you experienced any of these examples? Manipulators can make you second guess yourself
and make you feel like your emotions aren’t valid or real. However, after this video, hopefully, you
will have a better understanding of the intentions behind those people and can better protect
yourself from them. Of course, not everyone has the intention
of controlling your emotions. It’s a matter of how often they do it and
if those actions are done deliberately. If you or anyone you know has experienced
emotional manipulation for a long time, please do not hesitate to seek help from a licensed
professional. Remember that this video is meant to be educational
and is not intended to diagnose or treat any condition or situation. Did you find this video helpful? Tell us in the comments below. Please like and share it with friends that
might find value in this video too. Make sure to subscribe to Psych2Go and hit
the notification bell for more content. All the references used are added in the description
box below. Thank you for watching. See you next time! Thanks for watching! Video by Psych2go.
