The Meaning of Emotional Blackmail

 Emotional blackmail is that the process during which a private makes demands and threats to manipulate another person to urge what they need. it's a sort of psychological abuse, causing damage to the victims. Their demands are often intended to regulate a victim’s behavior in unhealthy ways.

Emotional blackmail may be a way of being manipulated by your partner. However, in these situations, it is often difficult to measure and clearly point to if the victim is being manipulated.

Leaders within the field, Susan Forward and Donna Frazier identify the facility dynamic that happens in such manipulation. They suggest that emotional blackmailers employ a fear – emotion – guilt tactic to urge what they need.

FOG may be a term named by forwarding, suggesting that fear, obligation, and guilt are the dynamics in emotional blackmail between the manipulator and therefore the victim. The acronym FOG also accurately describes the confusion and lack of clarity and thinking which will occur in these interpersonal dynamics. Emotional blackmail can create a fog and contribute to feelings of fear, obligation, guilt, and anxiety.

1 they will use covert techniques that make confusion by:

2 Making their demands seem reasonable

3 Make the victim feel selfish

4 Pathologizing or making the victim seem as if they're crazy

5 unite someone of influence to intimidate the victim

There are warning signs of emotional blackmail during a relationship:

1 If one person frequently apologizes for things that aren't their doing, like the manipulator’s outburst, bad day, or negative behaviors.

2 If one person insists on only their way or nothing, albeit it's at the expense of the partner.

3 It seems to be a one-way street of sacrifice and compliance.

4 One person feels intimidated or threatened to obey or comply.

When during a dysfunctional cycle of emotional blackmail, the victim could also be inclined to: apologize, plead, change plans to satisfy others’ needs, cry, use logic, give in, or challenge. Typically, they're going to find it difficult to face up for themselves, directly address the difficulty , set boundaries, and communicate with the blackmailer that the behavior is inappropriate.

They do not consistently set clear boundaries indicating what's acceptable for them.

According to forwarding, emotional blackmail occurs in close relationships. The manipulator leverages knowledge gained about the victim’s fears. Blackmailers will use the information they learn about what the victim fears to manipulate them.

Forward suggests that one of the most painful elements of emotional blackmail is that they use personal information about the victim’s vulnerabilities against them. Another trigger blackmailers will use is putting the victim’s sense of obligation to the test. They will commonly create undeserved guilt and blame to attribute their problems to the victim.

They make threats related to the victim’s emotional triggers to force compliance. For example, “If you don’t do what I want I will…leave you, tell your secrets, not love you…” They can also take advantage of the victim’s sense of responsibility and obligation. “All I do is work for this family, the least you could do is…” Blackmailers exploit the victim’s sense of guilt to create confusion and get the victim to give in to their demand.

Because the tactics can be covert, emotional blackmail may be difficult to spot, especially for those who may experience more vulnerabilities to it. According to forwarding,