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In this world, there are many different kinds of toxic people. Some of those toxic people manipulate us and attack us in physical ways while others opt for more emotional tactics.

Emotional manipulation and emotional manipulators, in general, is what we will be covering within this article. For those who might not be aware emotional manipulators are people who use our emotions against us. They say and do things to get under our skin and beat us down when we are already at our lowest. 

People like this always come with bad intentions and usually want to use us for their own benefit be it one way or another. People like this have no place in our lives and if you’re stuck in some kind of ‘situationship’ with one, you need to get out before things progress further. If you’re on the fence and unsure if what you’re facing is a true emotional manipulator look for the signs below.

9 Signs You’re The Victim Of A Real Emotional Manipulator:

1. They do not trust you.

Emotionally manipulative people do not often trust anyone other than themselves. They might make you think that they trust you but they never let you fully in. They want you to trust them but do not want things to be mutual, period.

2. They are never as comforting as they should be towards you.

When you’re upset, emotionally manipulative people will not be there to make you feel better. They will make any and all bad situations ten times worse and bring you down drastically. The more you try to lean on them the more clear it becomes that you cannot.

3. They always have to out-do you.

Whether you’re sad, happy, achieving something, or really falling short the emotional manipulator has to out-do you. They have to be more upset, better, or overall doing more than you to feel better about themselves all the while dismissing you and what you’re experiencing. This should not be happening.

4. They blame things that they’ve done wrong/are going through on you.

Whenever something happens to the emotional manipulator, or they do something wrong they will make it out to be your fault. It could be something you had literally no control over and yet somehow you’re the one to blame. This is complete bullshit but it happens all too often.

5. They belittle you to make you feel like you don’t ‘deserve’ them.

The more time that you spend with manipulative people the more you will notice how serious they work to beat others down. They want you to think that their presence in your life is a gift, and they do their best to keep you in that mindset. That being said, their presence is truly no gift at all.

6. They’re the biggest hypocrites you’ve ever met.

Manipulative people usually say one thing all the while doing another. They never follow through properly and are always falling short. They don’t think that the rules that apply to everyone else apply to them, and they’re always causing a fuss.

7. They’re always guilt-tripping you.

Emotionally manipulative people are usually the kind who will go out of their way to do something nice for you just so they can bring it up later. They do this so that they can guilt you into doing whatever it is they want you to do. The more you deny them the more they will say and in the end, it’s usually not worth a fight.

8. They’re always lying even when it’s obvious.

Emotional manipulators are usually spending a lot of their time lying. They lie about some of the dumbest things and are very obvious with their lies sometimes. It’s as if they want you to challenge them in one way or another.

9. They are constantly playing the victim.

Emotionally manipulative people spend a lot of time trying to make the rest of the world feel bad for them. It’s like they want to be the one that is being given a pat on the back and told everything will be fine. Whenever you try to confront them about anything they try to flip the cards.