Iza,
Emotional manipulation is hard to spot from the inside.
That's the design.
Sometimes it doesn't look like control.
It looks like someone who's worried about you.
It sounds like "I never said that" and "you're blowing this out of proportion" and "wow, I can't believe you'd think that of me."
And it works by getting you to stop asking what they did and start defending who you are.
The people who run these tactics are what I call boundary destroyers, and this week's episode is about them. The usual boundary skills don't work here, because these folks believe the rules don't apply to them.
So protection starts with recognition: flipping the script, gaslighting, love bombing, the "one small favor" that mysteriously grows.
When you can name what's happening, it loses so much of its power over you.
One thing I want to say directly: emotional manipulation can be a form of abuse, even when no one can see it from the outside.
If any part of this is your daily reality, you don't deserve it, and the episode includes resources for changing your situation safely.
This episode is part of our Best of The Terri Cole Show summer series, the most-requested episodes of the show, back while new episodes are in the works.
Listen, watch, or read the episode here
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