9 Signs of Psychological Manipulation with Words

He/she doesn't answer. He/she resorts to sarcasm. He/she says it is impossible to talk to you. He/she talks to you like he's talking to a child.He/she gives ultimatums and threatens. Signs of psychological manipulation in communication and language are as varied as they are exhausting. It is a form of mental exploitation and emotional abuse that we must learn to recognize.

Licio Gelli was one of the most sinister men in Italian history. An agent of the Masonic Lodge Propaganda Due team, He/she became a neo-fascist specializing in the manipulation of the masses. This villain has said that in order to control someone, you need to know how to communicate. It has shown that language is a weapon and can be used perversely for domination.

“If thought corrupts language, and language can corrupt human relations.”

– George Orwell


We know this very well. In the realm of politics, advertising, and this great universe of the mass media, there is an almost constant use of manipulation to seduce us, influence our decisions, and ultimately control us. Now, when we enter the private area, everything becomes a little more secret and complex.

We talk about our communication with our family, partner, friends… Signs of psychological and emotional manipulation are all around us, but they are often camouflaged. We can also unconsciously fall into the trap of using ourselves. Therefore, it is essential to know how to perceive them and how to react to them.

We must understand that it is important not only to pay attention to what we say, but also to how we say it.

Signs of psychological manipulation in communication

When we invoke the idea of psychological manipulation through our words, what happens in the first place is an imbalance in the relationship in question. It is the use of language for one's own benefit. This is done with the intention of not only controlling the other person, but also hurting them. Our naked emotions are what generates this hidden aggression in us.

Aldous Huxley said that words can be like X-rays. Used in a Machiavellian way, they can puncture anything: words that can damage someone's self-esteem, dignity, and even identity. So let's try to better understand this destructive dynamic on a personal level. Here are 9 danger signs:

1. Manipulation of facts

Anyone who specializes in psychological manipulation in communication is a strategist who distorts reality. He always turns the truth to his advantage, shares the responsibility and puts all the blame on us. Moreover, he will exaggerate everything and hide key information so that the balance is always tilted towards his version of "truth".

2. He/She will tell you that it is impossible to talk to you

This approach is simple, direct and effective. If someone tells you that it's "impossible to talk", they're avoiding exactly what you want to do: to talk about the problem. It is common for the manipulator to tell us that we are too emotional, that we have made the flea a camel, that he cannot speak to us. They blame us for what they suffer from: poor communication skills.
3. Intellectual harassment

The psychological and emotional manipulator also often uses a very common communication strategy. We're talking about intellectual harassment here. People endlessly produce arguments with different information, facts, and distorted reasoning to exhaust us emotionally and convince them that they are true.

4. Ultimatums and little time to decide

If you don't accept what I say, it's over. I'll give you until tomorrow to think about what I said to you, says things like. This type of communication is undoubtedly very painful and distressing. They put us between a rock and a hard place, create anxiety and cause great emotional pain.

We should know that if someone respects us and truly loves us, they will never use the "all or nothing" threat. This is a very common manipulation strategy.

5. Repeating your name during the conversation

If someone repeats your name almost constantly and in an exaggerated way, they are using a clever control mechanism. By doing this, it forces the other person to pay attention and frightens them.

6. Irony and dark humor

Using irony and black humor to embarrass and humiliate the other person is one of the most common signs of psychological manipulation in communication. The aggressor or manipulator wants to belittle us and tries to impose his so-called psychological superiority on us.

7. Use of silence or escape

I do not want to talk about this topic. Now is not a good time. Why are you bringing this up now? This type of communication is very common between partners, especially if one of them lacks communicative skills and a sense of responsibility.

8. Pretending not to know: “I don't understand what you mean”

This is a classic tactic. They claim they don't know what the other person wants them to say or do. They play with the other person's mind. They try to say that the other person complicates a lot of things and that it doesn't make sense to talk. This is a classic strategy of the passive-aggressive manipulator, where they avoid taking responsibility for themselves and try to make others suffer.

9. They will let you speak first

One of the most subtle signs of psychological manipulation is that one person always lets the other person speak first. They achieve a few things with this strategy. The first is to buy time to prepare their arguments, the second is to find our weak points. Also, after listening to us, the emotional manipulator avoids expressing his own opinions. They simply ask questions and try to highlight our shortcomings rather than reach an agreement. Conversation will make us look like clumsy, weak people

they are guiding.

As a result. While it is true that there are many other strategies of psychological and emotional manipulation in human communication, these are undoubtedly the most common. These are forms of intimidation that not only limit the possibility of effective dialogue, but also serve to suppress the other person and weaken them at all levels, personally, emotionally and mentally. We must learn to recognize these destructive strategies.