Psychological Manipulation Techniques That You May Be A Victim Of

They are in the places we frequent the most. It can be your boss, the neighbor upstairs, a co-worker, a client, a close or distant family member, or any friend. We are talking about people who perfectly master certain manipulation techniques and who use them to confuse us.

Although they are around us, it is not easy to detect these people. His characteristics and personality traits are not obvious. Nobody wears a sign on their forehead warning that they are a narcissist or a sociopath. So how can we avoid them?

Why me?

These types of people feed off the pain of others. Therefore, it is not that you are weaker, vulnerable or special, but that you are another victim for them. One more number.

We have all experienced guilt or mistrust after certain situations in which we are involved. And the worst thing is that we feel it without knowing: neither how nor why. But the fact is that the consequences splash us, undermine our morale, complicate our lives and increase our insecurities. How do they do it without us even realizing it?

What are manipulators looking for?

In general, there are many kinds of manipulative people: sociopaths, narcissists, liars, or so-called psychological vampires. And detecting them is more a practical question than a theoretical one. Therefore, if you have ever been victims of them, it will be easier for you to anticipate them.

However, it can be considered that the objectives of manipulative people are very clear, instrumental and follow a certain pattern. Some of them are:

• Override your willpower : they seek to sow doubt and that you remain under their protection.
• Destroy your self-esteem : take hits out of everything you do or have done. They are not constructive, they only try to draw defects.

• Passive-aggressive revenge : they punish you with their ignorance. When you need them, they put you aside; So it is enough that you ask them for something, so that they will stand you up or not even speak to you again.
• Misrepresenting reality : they enjoy confusing people and creating other people’s arguments and misunderstandings. Having generated a dispute, they stay on the sidelines having fun with each other’s disputes.

Learn to avoid their manipulation techniques

The consequences of its manipulation can generate a very deep imprint on each one of us. Therefore, it seems necessary that we know what are the manipulation techniques that they use most frequently. The question is to  learn to anticipate ourselves no longer to be their puppets.

These people often laugh at our opinions, hold us responsible or make us feel guilty, subtly attack, interrogate us, delay what they are not interested in, feel sorry for themselves, deny truths … Everything necessary to control the situation. But what manipulation techniques do they use to achieve this?

Gaslighting

Known as “gaslight”, it is one of the most insidious. “That has never happened”, “You have imagined” or “Are you crazy?”. They are some of the expressions they use to distort and confuse your sense of reality, making you believe something that has not happened.

Barton and Whitehead (1969)  defined “gaslighting” as “the intentional pursuit of making a person look crazy and making a profit from him.”  It instills in victims an extreme sense of anguish and confusion, to the point where they stop trusting themselves, their own memory, perception or judgment.

• Guilty feeling.
• Disorientation.
• Panic.
• Anger.
• Duel.
• Low self-esteem.
• Lack of autonomy.
• Emotional dependence.
• Alcohol consumption
• Even suicide.

Projection

The manipulator transfers his negative traits or shifts the responsibility for his behaviors to another person. Narcissists and psychopaths overuse it, claiming that the evil around them is not their fault, but yours.

The absurd

Remember that they seek to undermine your morale and make you rethink what you believe in. They can put words in your mouth that you haven’t said, they will make you think they have the super power to “read your mind.” But no, they are just tricks and tricks. You can help yourself with simulated claudication. You tell him he’s right to believe it, but you stick with it. You can also respond to their blackmail with a “voucher” or laconic phrases.

The important thing is that you take your self-esteem out of their hands. They think that is what they want to throw on the ground to be able to control you. Once they have weakened you, the task for them is much easier.

Kindness Costume

“Yes, but …”. If you have just bought a house, he will tell you that what a pity you still do not have another on the beach; If you have become more elegant than ever, it will point out that other earrings would have been better on you… If you have completed an impeccable report, it will notice that the staple is not well fixed.

But don’t let it affect you, you know what you’re worth! Your achievements and virtues are worth more than his manipulation techniques. Do not give it credibility and hang out with people who spend more time emphasizing what is right and encouraging you; Those that flatter you when they have to do it and issue constructive, not destructive criticism.

Resist his attack of rage

When you oppose a manipulator, the most normal thing is that their anger increases in a few seconds, especially if you do not play the game : their tolerance for frustration is usually not very high. They may start saying outrageous things and even insult you and refer to you in derogatory and derogatory terms. It is the result of their own mistrust.

These are the most subtle and frequent manipulation techniques these people use to humiliate you. Mastering your emotions and keeping a cool head: the only way to escape their control. If you don’t succumb, they will tire and end up looking for another victim. Life away from toxic people is so much better.