BEWARE OF MANIPULATION!

Different ways in which you can be manipulated

Gaslighting

Gaslighting takes place when someone seeks to make another person doubt their own perception of reality their own memory and their sanity. The term originates from a 1938 play called Gaslight in which a husband manipulates his wife into believing she is going insane by dimming the gas lights in their home and then denying that the lights are flickering. When she points it out. Gaslighting undermines the victim’s confidence in their own judgment by deploying confusing lies withholding information and shifting the blame onto another person while at the same time denying their side of the story and claiming that what the other person is saying is a lie.

Guilt tripping

Tripping is when a manipulator makes victim feel bad about themselves their actions or lack of action in a particular situation. for example if a toxic and negative person isn’t invited to a friend’s party and he finds out about this he might say to the friend I can’t believe you didn’t invite me to your party I thought we were closer than that. To instil feelings of guilt and
ensure that he will be invited next time.

Isolation

Isolation is when a manipulator cuts a victim off from their friends or family making sure that no support network exists to interfere with the manipulator’s plans. A manipulator does this by undermining the relationship the victim has with their loved ones and slowly turning them against their friends and family by convincing them that the people they know aren’t good for their well-being on top of this. A manipulator creates dependency with their victim by making them feel like they need their support or approval instilling fear into the victim so that they think can’t survive without them. This tactic is often used by abusive Partners Cults and online Predators.

Love bombing

Bombing is a deceptive tactic where the manipulator showers their victim with affection attention and praise to make them falsely believe that they are loved using excessive compliments gifts and frequent talks of extravagant future plans together. The manipulator expresses intense emotions to make the victim feel like they are the most important person in their abuser’s life when in reality the only reason they are receiving such false positivity is so that the abuser can quickly gain as much power and control as possible. on top of this people who love bomb to manipulate will get the victim heavily attached to praise and then take it away at a moment’s notice to cause the victim Crave it and be more susceptible to the abuser’s requests historically speaking it is said that Adolf Hitler used love bombing techniques on his wife Eva Burn to keep her close to him while he pursued his destructive political Ambitions playing the victim. This is a commonly used tactic that even non-abusive or non-manipulative people can used to avoid taking responsibility for something. It is where a manipulator acts like they are the ones being wronged or hurt. when in reality they are the guilty ones by blaming other people for their actions and seeking sympathy through the exaggeration of their problems all while avoiding taking any responsibility and admitting to their wrongdoing playing the victim can be a very effective strategy because it requires the other person to attack the manipulator and tell them that they are completely wrong in order to attempt regain control of the narrative some something that most people don’t want to do.

Threats or coercion

Threats come in many different forms, firstly the obvious physical threat of violence or damage to someone’s property. If the victim doesn’t do exactly what the manipulator wants then there’s emotional threats such as threatening to leave someone in a relationship over a small or Petty Feud or threatening to spread rumours about someone that could damage their reputation. Financial threats are when someone withholds financial support or threatens their monetary stability which hackers love to use against companies when they successfully pull off a data breach in fact this happened recently to Colonial pipeline a major fuel operator in the United States who was targeted by a ransom ware attack in which hackers demanded a payment of $4.
4 million in Bit coin exchange for the decryption key financial threats can also quickly turn into legal threats with one party threatening to sue another and finally there are social threats in which a manipulator threatens to damage the victim’s reputation with lies smear campaigns and slander.

Silent Treatment

The silent treatment is a form of manipulation that typically takes place in relationships but can also take place in the workplace among friends and online. It’s the practice of withholding information or communication with an individual as a form of punishment. Manipulator May withhold eye contact or ignore their victim’s presence and existence entirely even when in the same room as them a controlling tactic. it is very similar to ghosting is a very similar treatment into the silent treatment as both tactics involve a lack of communication between the manipulator and the victim however main difference is that while the silent treatment is used for punishment and control ghosting is seen as a passive and disrespectful way to end a relationship or friendship permanently.

Shaming

Shaming like threats comes in many different forms. Firstly there is public humiliation where a manipulator makes negative comments about a victim in front of other people or online in order to embarrass them. a manipulator May compare the victim unfavourably to other people make them feel inadequate and inferior blame them for their own actions mock them to make feel foolish and ridiculous or openly exclude them from social activities and events triangulation. this is a tactic in which the manipulator brings in a third party to create jealousy or competition within the victim creating a feeling that they need to compete for the manipulator’s attention the manipulator may use the third party to make victim feel jealous by flirting with the third party and spending more time with them intentionally excluding the victim from their activities. The manipulator feeds the idea of competition in victim’s mind sometimes by even spreading rumours about the victim to third party to turn them against each other and create even more conflict.

All of this puts the victim in a state of mind where they are much easier to be controlled by the manipulator or even the third party aggressive jokes can often hold much deeper meanings and intentions being used to manipulate a victim in several different ways.

It’s up to the victim pay attention and call it out which is very difficult to do in most situations.