How To Deal With Manipulative People: Best 10 Strategies

This new article will show you everything you need to know about how to deal with manipulative people.

If you became a victim of manipulation and contact with the manipulator makes your life difficult, burns you out and destroys you, face him.

How To Deal With Manipulative People:

1. Learn manipulative tactics

The way we influence people is not secret knowledge. The more you know about psychological mechanisms of manipulation, the easier it is going to be for you to see manipulation, name it and defend yourself.

2. Remember particularly about human tendency to “take short-cuts ” and take action under the influence of specific stimuli.

– If you want to reciprocate a gift or gesture… think.
– Before you do something because you like someone very much… think.
– Don’t let someone’s authority obscure the entire world for you.
– If you’re going to do something because others are doing it… wait.
– Don’t be consistent against reason.
– Don’t pursue something simply because it’s inaccessible.

3. Look for a “devil’s advocate” for yourself

It is nice to have a friend who we trust, who knows us well and with whom we can discuss our views or behaviour. It is worth having a person who will all the time react critically if, in the influx of emotions and under the influence of others, you act against your values, contrary to previous opinions.

4. Develop the required skills

Work on increasing your emotional intelligence (knowing your own emotions, having the ability to control yourself and recognise the emotions of others). Be aware of your own strengths and build self-esteem.

5. Listen to your emotions

Only then will you be capable to hear the weakest emotions that tell you that not everything is as charming and true as you try to convince yourself.

6. Develop the ability to deal with pressure

Stay calm and funky in contact with the manipulator, practice dealing with negative emotions (anger, anxiety, frustration and anxiety). In a pressure situation, use the technique of grading your reaction:

– Ask not to insist.
– If this doesn’t help, refer to your own rules/decisions: “I have a rule that I do not pass on such information.
– Refer to your own emotions: “It’s starting to irritate me, I’m irritated by your insistence.
– Underline respect for your own decisions: “My decision is irrevocable.

7. Clarify unclear expectations

The manipulator uses understatements and reaches for what he wants, without formulating clear requests. In this case, pretend that you do not understand his intentions, especially when you already know what he is hoping for. Wait until he clearly formulates his expectation. Perhaps he’ll be upset to see you don’t fall into his trap, he’ll try to make you feel guilty. Nevertheless, keep your own way of doing things.

8. Limit meetings and discussions

If you are in frequent contact with a manipulator, make sure you reduce the frequency of your meetings, for example if you work together, try to get a different room, different working hours. But when you have to see the manipulator, limit the number of conversations, of course by courtesy. Take up as neutral a topic as possible, do not talk about yourself or your private life.

9. Confrontation with a manipulator

If you have become a victim of manipulation and contact with the manipulator makes your life difficult, burns you out and destroys you, face him. Remember the following rules:

• Prepare to talk, write down the goals you want to achieve during the conversation.
• Do not go to the meeting alone, make sure that your confrontation takes place in front of witnesses.
• Expose the manipulation – to bring out the intrigue and actions of the manipulator into the daylight, you cannot rely only on your memory.
• Forgetting the facts, we give him a field of defense and counter-attack. Save all documents to confirm your accusations, keep a record of individual events, keep e-mails, and evidence of decisions made.
• You will be able to use the evidence during the confrontation.
• Bring the conversation to the concrete, describe the situation using the most objective formulations possible.
• Show your firmness – manipulators draw strength from the weakness and uncertainty of others, so be confident and firm in the confrontation. Remember that manipulators are afraid of open confrontations, so go ahead and tell them about the material and emotional consequences you bear. Use “I” messages and don’t attack.
• Suggest a solution to the situation, present your expectations and tell about the benefits of this solution for each side.

10. Finally, cut off all contact with the manipulator…

When your actions don’t bring any results, conversations don’t lead to a change of situation and constructive solutions, you are most probably dealing with someone who has manipulation inscribed in nature. In such a situation it’s best to break off the contact with such a person for your own good.

Thank you for reading this article about how to deal with manipulative people and I actually hope that you take action my advice. I wish you good luck and that I hope its contents have been a good help to you.