5 Tips to Avoid Emotional Blackmail in Your Relationship

Last Updated on September 4, 2024 by Joshua Isibor

Emotional blackmail is an issue affecting many relationships today. According to the Online Cambridge Dictionary, emotional blackmail is using a person’s feelings of kindness, sympathy, or duty to persuade them to do or feel something.

Have you ever been with someone who constantly makes you feel terrible to make him/herself feel good? It could be a sign of emotional blackmail. One of the signs of an unhealthy relationship is emotional blackmail.

In such relationships, one partner is manipulative and controlling. This partner uses emotions and feelings to control the other person in the relationship. Usually, the partner who controls is the one with higher emotional intelligence. So that partner can easily control the other person. Emotional blackmailers are believed to employ a fear–emotion–guilty tactic to get what they want. This control is easy because most persons in a relationship have not learned how to manage their emotions effectively. Often, emotional blackmail is subtle but has a powerful influence on the control.

Therefore, some people in a relationship are afraid of their partners. Imagine being in a relationship where you ought to be safe but are afraid instead.

While society often believes that ladies are primarily guilty of emotional blackmail, men are manipulative, controlling, and demanding.

What causes emotional blackmail?

You may wonder why a sane person would want to control another person, especially someone they claim to love.

1. Selfishness

Naturally, humans are selfish and often want to satisfy themselves. Therefore, they don’t know how to prioritize other people’s needs. A selfish person will manipulate his/her partner.

2. Crave for power

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is the case for some people in a relationship. They want to wield power as well as control their partner.

3. Emotional instability

I have a friend who will humorously say, ‘Not everybody is healthy’. And she is right. The world is full of sick people. People who appear healthy physically but mentally unstable. These people often use emotional blackmail on their partners.

Signs of emotional blackmail

How do you know if your partner is a blackmailer? We will answer that question below. Identifying a blackmailer is the first step out of an unhealthy relationship.

1. If your partner is demanding:

if a partner is always dejected, sad, or depressed whenever you refuse his/her demand, then he just might be trying to blackmail you emotionally.

2. Threats:

A partner who threatens that your refusal to do something terrible will ruin him/her. For example, ‘Babe, if you don’t lend me some money from that money your friend gave you, I will be evicted from my house’. It can also be threats to leave the relationship every time an argument arises

3.When you have a partner who makes you feel bad because you are doing well in your business or career and he/she isn’t, you might hear statements like, ‘You are working, and I am not, so it is okay for you to buy an expensive phone’ or ‘I will manage my bad phone, after all, I am not working’. Statements like that will take you on a guilt trip, and they are a sign of emotional blackmail.

4. Cheating: The one who cheats on you because you refused to have sex with him. And anytime he/she is confronted, he/she becomes defensive. or the partner who pays some or all of your bills and thinks it is okay to cheat on you.

5. The partner that you have to please at all times to keep him/her happy

6.Lowering your self-esteem: if your partner constantly reminds you of your flaws, but doesn’t try to help you get better, it could be emotional blackmail.

7.The partner that wouldn’t allow you to be friends with other people or of the opposite sex because he/she is afraid of losing you.

The list of emotional blackmail is endless. Emotional blackmail comes in different forms and shades. Be observant of signs of emotional blackmail.

Stages of Emotional blackmail

1. Demand: this is the first stage in emotional blackmail. And it is when your partner asks you to do something that will benefit him/her.
2. Refusal: at this stage, the person who will be blackmailed refuses to grant the blackmailer’s request. It could be because the blackmailed is indisposed or worried the action has negative consequences.
3. Persistence: the blackmailer becomes overbearing and pressures the blackmailer to grant the request.
4. Threats: the blackmailer, at this stage, uses threats. It could be a threat of break up or a threat of denial of sex, money, etc.
5. Compliance: the blackmailer is granted his/her request.
6. Goal achieved: The relationship will become normal again until the next time.

How to avoid emotional blackmail in your relationship

Know your worth: this is so important. If you place premium value on yourself, you won’t need validation from anybody, especially your partner. This is why emotional blackmail works best when you are insecure and vulnerable. Therefore, refuse to be that person that can be manipulated because you don’t know your worth.

Set boundaries: Let your partner understand what you can and cannot endure in your relationship. This is one major way to avoid emotional blackmail in your relationship. 

Confront your partner: Have a heart-to-heart conversation with your partner who is blackmailing you. Explain to your partner why you feel he/she should treat you better. Help your partner understand the effects of his/her actions on your mind and life. Most people blackmail others because of their insecurities, so you must confront your partner.

Get help for your partner: if you notice that your partner needs help, kindly advise him/her to get help from a counsellor. After confronting your partner, the following process should be followed: nothing should change about his/her behaviour.

Leave the relationship: If your partner refuses to change or get help, you must help yourself. Don’t put up with ugly behaviour because of love. Remember, a healthy mind can truly be loved.

Do not tolerate filthy behaviours in your relationship. Try to avoid emotional blackmail because your health depends on it.

Click here to read===>8 IMPORTANCE OF TRUST IN A RELATIONSHIP

Originally posted 2020-06-19 23:47:35.