6 Manipulative Behaviors That Are Not Actually Love
1. Jealousy and Possessiveness
A little jealousy is normal in relationships, but excessive jealousy is not healthy. If your partner is overly possessive, constantly checking up on you, or gets upset when you spend time with others, this is not love but a sign of control.
2. Gaslighting
This highly insidious form of psychological manipulation that aims to make you question your own sanity, perception, or memories. This tactic involves the manipulator denying things they’ve clearly said or done and insisting that you’re “misremembering” or overreacting.
If your partner frequently resorts to such behavior, high chances that you’re being gaslighted. This is a serious red flag, indicating a toxic relationship dynamic that can deeply affect your mental health.
3. Constant Criticism
While constructive criticism is necessary for growth, constant, harsh criticism that makes you feel inadequate or inferior is a form of emotional abuse. Love should boost your self-esteem, not tear it down.
4. Playing the Victim
Manipulators like to play the victim card. They will use things that happened to them as a child to gain your sympathy, but they only want to take advantage of you.
Some toxic people are so good at playing the victim that they can make anyone putty in their hands. You might even believe that some of their sob stories are true. Granted, some people were victims and have developed this mentality to get through life. However, many are just using lies to play on your emotions.
5. Make Empty Promises
Manipulators will make all sorts of promises to you when they need to get you off their back. However, these are broken vows they have no intention of keeping. You will find that these promises come out when caught in lies or you consider leaving them.
Please never hold your breath that they will keep any of these pledges to you, as lying is one of their strong suits. It’s a commonplace for toxic people to use deception to throw people off their track.
6. Controlling
Manipulators want you all to themselves so they want to control how much time you spend with others. They hate you to be out of their realm of influence for too long, as they fear that people will break the control they have over you. They may become as controlling as trying to dictate who you can talk to on the phone, visit in person, or where you can go to grocery shops or other places.
Some controlling toxic people want to close you off from the rest of the world so they can have you all to themselves. This behavior is not a love relationship but a prison sentence.
