Emotional manipulation in relationships.

We are all susceptible to being manipulated in relationships, whether between romantic partners, friends, parents, children, employers, coworkers, or neighbors. Once we allow another person to control us, we are colluding with their desire to regulate our feelings, motives, and even our thoughts through deceptive, exploitative, and unfair means. A manipulative relationship is one that is one-sided and unbalanced, facilitating the goals of the manipulator at the expense of the person being manipulated. These relationships become troubled over time. If you would like to vary this type of relationship, you want to first recognize the features of manipulation, then look within to know your contribution to the manipulation. There are effective ways to face up to manipulation and convey balance back to the connection. 

Manipulation isn’t an equivalent of influence. We all use influence with people to advance our goals, and this is often one of the hallmarks of healthy social functioning. Influence recognizes the rights and limits of people, and it supports direct, honest communication. Influence is a method we use for functioning effectively within the world. Influence recognizes the integrity of the opposite person, including the entitlement to not go alongside the attempted persuasion. Manipulation, on the opposite hand, depends on covert agendas and an effort to somehow coerce another person into giving in to one’s needs or demands. Albeit it’s going to appear that the manipulator is robust and on top of things, there’s usually insecurity under the façade. The tendency to take advantage of others and disrespect their rights may be a sign of unhealthy personality functioning. In fact, people that manipulate others have difficulty in maintaining good interpersonal relationships. 

Those who manipulate people are good at spotting people to regulate. If they feel unable to control someone, they typically hand over and advance to somebody else who is more likely to be receptive to the attempted manipulation. Once you recognize the features of the manipulation, the best way to correct things is to get your own contribution to the matter. (This statement could seem a touch difficult to simply accept. After all, it’s the manipulator who has the matter, you would possibly say. But realize that manipulation cannot occur during a vacuum. As is true of any relationship, it takes two people.) Once you come to know your contribution to the manipulative situation, you should then take steps to correct it.