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Emotional Blackmail

r/CodependencyUpdated 30 days ago
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Citations (29)

Growing Up With a Perfectionist Parent Is Messing With My Sense of Self

Hello, I had a similar perfectionist mother. Mine was a covert narcissist who secretly enjoyed pitting people against each other, but always under the guise of "kindness" and "what's best for her chil…

r/Codependencycomment3/11/2026
Choosing myself feels like betraying my family, but staying feels like losing my life

Choosing myself feels like betraying my family, but staying feels like losing my life — I’m 21F, Bengali, and coming from a strict Muslim family who are very traditional where marrying outside the culture is almost unheard of. All of my siblings had arranged marriages, and my parents hav…

r/AsianParentStoriespost3/10/2026
My parents are forcing the marriage talk only one month after my breakup. How do I handle this?

My parents are forcing the marriage talk only one month after my breakup. How do I handle this? — I (31F) have been living in Germany for the last 8 years, but my Indian parents’ expectations haven't changed with the distance. I’m currently at a breaking point and need to vent/get some perspective…

r/AsianParentStoriespost3/29/2026
Bi-Weekly Thread - Advice for Relationship/Friendship/Dating/Breakup

Your anxiety is stemming from the fact that you are abandoning yourself in this relationship. It’s also why you self sabotaged. Clearly the relationship has been struggling before this even happened. …

r/AnxiousAttachmentcomment10/15/2025
How to seperate Asian parenting culture vs just straight up abuse?

Wow, okay. Does the counselor know the friend of your parents touched you inappropriately and got your boyfriend drunk to get to you? I would submit a police report. If your parents are withholding…

r/AsianParentStoriescomment3/12/2026
Why do some parents expect you to take care of them(because that's why they made you after all) and at the same time try to fuck over your life so that you have no resources with which to help them?

You are still making the fundermental mistake of thinking logically when trying to work out a Narc, it doesn't work that way. It's all a defense mechanism, its not based on rational thought. The prima…

r/raisedbynarcissistscomment3/14/2026
Wife (26F) scheduled cosmetic procedures we agreed we wouldn’t do before marriage, using money from our joint account. I’m (28M) struggling with the trust breach.

I have a friend in exactly the same situation. Exactly the same. And his wife uses the same arguments, too. All I can say is that I just love modern (pseudo)feminist order of things. Full on, trendy…

r/relationship_advicecomment3/16/2026
My (29M) prenup with my fiance (28W) pays her for having children. My parents (65M, 62W) are telling me to call off the wedding

I mean, your fiance is gaining advantage on you, but you are clearly on board with it and are already an adult with adult money, so what the hell, better to bet the money on love than in a cassino. …

r/relationship_advicecomment3/17/2026
How do you deal with resentment toward a parent who “did their best”?

You basically grew up in a cult (all dysfunctional families are cults, but especially the crazy religious ones). It's okay to feel all your feelings about that. It's okay to cut off your abusers. You…

r/EmotionalNeglectcomment3/18/2026
Started family therapy with my parents...

I think it's a huge waste of your time, energy, attention, and effort. Abusers don't change, they just learn better ways to manipulate. Cut them off and set yourself, your partner, and your child fre…

r/EmotionalNeglectcomment3/18/2026
Mom threatening suicide if I don't come back

Agree with Sea Turtles. This is a classic narc move. The best way to handle this emotional blackmail is to call their local police department and request a wellbeing check. Do this every time the thre…

r/raisedbynarcissistscomment3/24/2026
Mom threatening suicide if I don't come back

Do NOT go back or respond. That's emotional blackmail. Call the cops in their city and tell them she's threatening suicide. Let them deal with them. They'll get the wrong kind of attention and hopef…

r/raisedbynarcissistscomment3/24/2026
I 20M broke up with my 21F girlfriend after she proposed to open up our relationship and now everyone is telling me to get back with her basically

Stick to your guts and heart brother. You deserve better, someone who reciprocates the love you give out. Don't let emotional blackmail from your family persuade you to stay and be miserable. 🙂

r/relationship_advicecomment3/25/2026
I (20M) haven't slept in my own bed in almost 2 months because of my (19F) girlfriend

You have your text conversations go back through & screenshot the emotional blackmail, meltdowns & hissy fits, you can't have record of her in person abuse & her self harming behaviour unless uve reco…

r/relationship_advicecomment3/29/2026
I 20M broke up with my 21F girlfriend after she proposed to open up our relationship and now everyone is telling me to get back with her basically (Update)

Two things: 1. It was not a harmless question, it was manipulation. If she brought up opening up your relationship, then she does not love or respect you and thought that she had you wound so tight ar…

r/relationship_advicecomment3/29/2026
My parents are forcing the marriage talk only one month after my breakup. How do I handle this?

If you’re doing everything on your own and aren’t tied to them in any way that would force you to play their game. That’s really good. Because they can’t use that to force you to cater to their choice…

r/AsianParentStoriescomment3/29/2026
How do they do it?

Manipulation and emotional blackmail

r/NarcissisticAbusecomment3/30/2026
Am I 30F ruining my relationship with my bf 31M over not having kids?

Yes OP, all of this. He's using emotional blackmail to get his way and that really sucks and indicates the type of person he truly is. I realize it's a hard thing to face, but he said what you wanted …

r/relationship_advicecomment4/1/2026
My 23M bf gets a panic attack every time i ask him to pick up after himself 22F am i the problem?

The way you've described it here, then no one will have any sympathy with this guy. He sounds dreadful, manipulative and an emotional blackmailer. I wouldn't stay in a relationship like that. But onl…

r/relationship_advicecomment4/2/2026
It hurts thinking that my own parent chooses the US president over her own children

They voted for an abuser bc he represents them. Links on their dysfunction: [authoritarian follower personality](https://www.issendai.com/psychology/estrangement/summary.html#authoritarian) (mini di…

r/CPTSDcomment4/3/2026
Conflict about 3rd kid after an affair (36M/36F)

Dude this relationship is dead. And more than that, it's *been* dead. For literal years. You and your ex didn't resurrect it so much as you dug up the rotting corpse and put a pair of sunglasses on it…

r/relationship_advicecomment4/4/2026
What gives you the ick as you heal and your emotional maturity increases?

Good question! I'd say.. Bad reaction to my vulnerabilities. I now share my vulnerabilities early on and observe the reaction especially when they're later used against me in an argument. Noticing i…

r/Codependencycomment4/5/2026
Anyone else get really good at reading the room, only because you had to?

The threats and being hyper vigilant, absolutely. Happens in every environment. Seemingly. Yes, lets take an example, usually at family parties. I know 3-4 people will be insanely self centred and ma…

r/raisedbynarcissistscomment4/6/2026
I’m (28M) having trouble with my (29F) wife because shes bisexual and still interested in women

No. You entered into a monogamous relationship and marriage. Her wanting to rewrite the rules now is cruel. >She says she may never be able to shake that feeling and always be in the back of her mi…

r/relationship_advicecomment4/7/2026
Do I(21F) not have the right to break up with my bf(21M)?

This is possibly just my view, having been in a relationship that sounds similar, but he’s  manipulating you into thinking HIS feelings and happiness are YOUR responsibility. It’s insidious because it…

r/relationship_advicecomment4/8/2026
What is the one comment that you’ll never forget?

"There's nothing wrong. It's all in your head, so stop thinking about it" whenever I brought up anything: my depression, my sister's continuous physical and verbal abuse, my mother's emotional blackma…

r/raisedbynarcissistscomment4/9/2026
I (31F) want to move in with boyfriend (30M) of 5 years. He doesn't. Now my flatmate (31M) and childhood friend thinks of moving out to live by himself. Now that this is a possibility, I want to tell my boyfriend to finally do the next step. I am afraid I'll find a stonewall. What to do?

The easiest and quickest way to solve your problem is to start looking now for your own place, or else decide to stay put and start the search for a new roommate if you can't afford the rent on your o…

r/relationshipscomment4/10/2026
Husband hates my friend wants a divorce

When someone asks you for a divorce, you give it to them. Period. The moment someone utters the word divorce in a marriage, it's over. Your marriage has already entered a death spiral. Before I shar…

r/Divorcecomment4/13/2026
I [43M] have been disowned by one sister [41F] followed quickly thereafter by having to disown my father [65M]

I want to suggest something counterintuitive. I want you to start by giving yourself massive credit for where you are You were in emotional turmoil, and your brain was telling you there was danger a…

r/relationshipscomment4/13/2026