30 draining signs of emotional blackmail, its effects and how to break free

If you are constantly under the grip of eggs, then you are afraid of crime travel or danger, you will be experiencing emotional blackmail. Learn to gain control.

This picture: When you pop up a text of your partner, you are scrolling through your phone. It says something, “If you really love me, you will do this for me.” Sound familiar? You can inadvertently be caught in the webs of emotional blackmail.

In this feature, we will explain what emotional blackmail is, how to identify signs, and hands with strategies to free you.

What is emotional blackmail?

So we all heard about blackmail, right? A knot-so-neis strategy is often reserved for crime drama and thriller novels. But what about emotional blackmail?

Instead of using physical hazards, it is heavy in psychological terms such as what it wants to achieve ‘forced control’ and ’emotional manipulation’.

Imagine that you have a friend who always makes you feel guilty for not walking with them, even when you do swamp with work. They can leave the lines, “I think our friendship is not as important for you as your job.”

Och, right? It is emotional blackmail at work, using guilt as a weapon to bend you to their will.

Indications you are emotionally blackmailed

You must be thinking, how can you tell if someone is emotionally blackmailing you? It is not that they will hand you a user manual, titled, “How to manipulate 101.”

While there is no size-fit-all formula, there are fixed signs and equipment that use emotional blackmailer. Let’s dig.

1. Threat

This “do this otherwise.” Emotional blackmailers use dangers to create fear and manipulate what you want.

These threats can be from ending the relationship to damage your reputation. They create a power imbalance that is difficult to correct when not recognized quickly.

2. Crime trips

Emotional blackmailer plays with a sense of duties or obligation. The phrase, “If you love me, you will do this,” you are also designed to feel guilty for considering any other course of action.

3. Mute treatment

Going cold or giving you silent treatment is another form of emotional blackmail. Blackmailer withdraws emotionally, gives you a cold shoulder until you bends their desires.

4. Intermittent reinforcement

Emotional blackmailer often mixes of warm moments with cold, distant duration. It is known as a stoppage and reinforcement.

By being unexpected, they place you on their toes, increase your emotional dependence on them and make it more likely that you will follow their demands.

5. Playing an afflicted card

The blackmailer plays the role of the victim, if you do not accept their demands, you become a criminal. This changes the tables and you feel that you have no option but to comply.

6. Conditional love

Emotional blackmail may manifest through conditional affection or approval. The blackmailer makes it clear that their love or respect is conditional on you what they want.

It shakes your self -esteem and makes you feel as if you have to earn their love, you have to trap in the endless loop of compliance.

7. Gaslighting

Ah, but of course. Emotional blackmail often comes as a package deal with gaslighting. You are made to question your own reality or decisions, adding a layer of self-doubt that makes you easy to control.

8. Financial existence

Sometimes, emotional blackmail may have a financial angle. Blackmailer can hold resources or money on your head as control. The implications are clear: follow financial difficulty, or cope.

9. Exploitation of emotional investment

Emotional blackmailer knows how much you care and use it against you. Because they know that you are emotionally investing, there are more bets for you, so that you are more likely to give to avoid a breakdown in the relationship.

10. Moving goalpost

When you feel that you meet their demands, they change the criteria. This is a manipulation strategy that aims to keep you in a constant position of uncertainty and compliance.

11. Emotional outbreak

Emotional blackmailer can resort to emotional outbreaks to manipulate you. They will use tears, anger, or extreme spirit as a threat or crime-tripping.

This idea is to overwhelm you emotionally at the point where you present their demands to maintain peace.

12. Reduce your feelings

They invalidate your feelings or worries by calling you highly sensitive or telling you that you are too much. This strategy eradicates your confidence and makes you another guess of your decisions, making an environment ripen for more manipulation.

13. Urgency

These manipulations often inspire the false sense of urgency. “If you don’t decide now, the phrases will be too late” push you to make a hurry.

The objective is to prevent you from having enough time to think or consult things through others, so that you are more likely to comply.

14. Separate you

They will try to separate you from friends or family, suggesting that “you only need me.” This calculated trick cuts you from other support networks, making you more sensitive to their strategy.

15. Blame game

Is there anything wrong in the relationship? According to emotional blackmailer, this is always your fault. The purpose of this strategy is to degrade your self -esteem, so that the whole work of good relationship is.

It is a one-sided dosha celebration designed to make you sacrifice your self-values ​​over time, to make a perfa sacrifice.

16. Scrape

Emotional blackmailers do not include innocent third party such as children or pets. They would say, “If you love children, you will do this for me,” manipulate you to feel guilty.

This is a low shock, so that your decision is not only about you but also about others that you care. It adds an additional layer of crime and complexity to blackmail.

17. Mutual friend as leverage

They can include mutual friends to support their claims or even act as messengers. They will use lines, “even [Friend’s Name] Agreed with me, “to make you feel excluded.

18. Previous generosity

“Remember at that time I helped you?” They will remember examples where they were good for you, which makes you feel that you are outstanding them. This creates a sense of indebtedness, which makes it difficult for you to say that whatever they are demanding now is not.

Emotional blackmailer holds a mental tally, using previous generosity as a means of control.

19. Vacant promises

“I promise that I will change.” How many times have you heard? Empty promises offer a glimpse of hope that are entangling you in the relationship.

They swear to change, well knowing that they will not do, but it keeps expecting and complying with you.

20. Questioning your loyalty

The minutes you show resistance question your commitment to the relationship. The phrase, “If you were really committed, you will do this for me,” you have to take a crime in compliance.

21. Reduce the consequences of saying ‘no’

Every time you want to claim your limit, a small voice in your head begins to imagine all the results of all holocales.

This feeling can be particularly acute if you have done it in the past and the other person has reacted poorly or even exit.

22. Unilateral ‘give and take’ in your relationship

You are always giving one, and they are always in the end. If your emotional account looks like an accountant’s bad dream, it is a red flag.

Over time, such imbalance can cause feelings of resentment and tiredness. When a partner gives more frequent, it can indicate mutuality and lack of mutual respect.

23. Excuse yourself or others for your behavior

Do you find yourself to justify your actions, not only for other people but also yourself? You catch yourself thinking, “They did this because …”

In the worst situation, you can blame anyone but them! If you are practically their PR manager, trust us, they are not paying you enough.

24. Looks dry or emotionally tired after the conversation

Some conversations are unavoidably dry, but if a particular person always makes you feel tired, it is a red flag.

Note how your conversation usually happens. How do they talk to you? Note whether you feel constantly worn or after every conversation with them decreases emotionally.

25. Your achievements have been reduced

Whenever you achieve something, they find a way to minimize it or focus on them. This behavior is a form of emotional blackmail. By reducing their achievements, they reduce your confidence and self-values.

This is a way to maintain control and prevent you from feeling very good about yourself. This strategy often stems from its own insecurity and requires verification, makes a dynamic where your success is seen as a danger for their ego.

Ultimately, it depends on your acceptance and reduces your freedom and feeling of self-exercise.

28. Over-appointment

You find that you are always forgiving the same, even when you are not sure who you are apologizing for. You do not want to push things forward, and sometimes you really feel that this is your fault.

The constant need to apologize indicates that you are deeply darker manipulating emotionally, allowing you to question your own actions and feelings while controlling the relationship with another person.

29. Your friends and family are worried

If those who care you, they are increasing eyebrows, then it is worth considering that they are on something. The thing about being emotionally manipulated is that you often do not see it.

Outsiders can notice changes in the dynamics of you and your relationship that you can be very close to identify. His concerns are another red flag that should not be ignored.

30. Loss of self-identity

Finally, your priorities completely turn towards their desires and craze. You start paying attention that your own interest, hobbies and friends have taken a backseat.

Why do people resort to emotional blackmail?

Okay, so we have talked about “what” and “how” of emotional blackmail “. Now pull the curtain back and try to understand “why”.

Why do some people feel the need to manipulate their feelings like a puppet?

1. Psychological profile

Narcissistic personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, and other personality disorders often facilitate emotional blackmail as a strategy.

This is not an excuse for their behavior, but a reference that can help you understand what they do. It can also guide how you interact with them, especially when professional consider help.

2. Cultural and social conditioning

Sometimes, emotional blackmail is learned. Behavior passes from generation to generation or is absorbed by a culture that supports the manipulation strategy.

These behavior become normal, eliminating a cycle of emotional manipulation. So, this is not just a “issue”; Sometimes this is a systemic issue, but it can be the first step in breaking the cycle.

3. Insecurity and low self -esteem

Emotional blackmail often comes from a place of deep root insecurity. By controlling you, they feel a sense of strength and verification that they have otherwise lack.

4. History of rewarding behavior for a manipulation

Sometimes, people …