Sample Response
From the given text, signs of abuse including Gaslighting, Manipulation, Blaming, Deflection, Guilt-Tripping, Love-Bombing, Intimidation, Triangulation, Minimization and Projection can be observed in the paragraph. Gaslighting can be seen in the beginning of the sentence “We’ll know that as our conversation continues and things are followed through on rather than just conversations about it” where Ryan is trying to make the person doubt their memory and make them believe that what they said has no validity. Manipulation is seen in how Ryan tries to make the person feel guilty by saying “Today I almost had to hug and run” while avoiding the topic of why he had to leave; and by “I helped load the chairs cause I was still there” which implies that the person should be grateful to him. Blaming can be found in “I tossed everything back in storage in the ten minutes it took you to get there.”, where the person is being blamed for the situation. Deflection can be seen in how Ryan avoids the subject matter of why he had to leave by focusing on other details such as the chairs he loaded. Love-Bombing is seen in the last sentence “Could have spent much longer together today.” where he is trying to make the other person feel like he still cares about them by emphasizing on spending time together. The user should respond in a non-confrontational way, such as by redirecting the conversation back to the topic that Ryan is avoiding and not engaging in the bait he is offering or trying to guilt-trip them into compliance. They should also stay firm on their boundaries and let Ryan know that the manipulation will not work.