The Overwhelmed Brain

Emotional Intelligence for Critical Thinkers

  • Home
  • Deeper Learning
  • All Episodes
  • About
    • About Me and the Show
    • TOB Newsletter
    • Contact
    • Kind Words by Amazing People
    • Media Kit
    • Privacy Policy
  • Support the show

The Dramatic Victim Doesn’t Want Change

Leave a Comment

Have you ever met someone who complained about their circumstances but wasn’t willing to do anything to change them?  

In fact, if you were to suggest a possible solution to them, they would come up with an excuse or valid-sounding reason for why your suggestion wouldn’t work. And the more you tried to help, the more flaws they’d find in your logic.

The hard truth is that some people don’t want to change, nor do they want others around them to help them change. People like this refuse to acknowledge the role they play in their misery and often blame others for their suffering.

If you are intertwined with someone like this, you might have to be careful that you are not helping to enable this behavior. This type of person may find comfort in your attention to their misery. And as long as they are getting their needs met, they may not mind if you become miserable along with them as you try to help them.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Behavior, Control, enabling, Human Potential, Negative Emotions, Relationships, Toxic Behavior, Victim Mentality Tagged With: Dealing with the victim mentality, How to deal with the chronic complainer, Some people are so dramatic

My Healing Journey from Being an Emotional Abuser

122 Comments

Emotional abuse is the ultimate brainwashing technique. It often hides in the form of feigned helplessness, generosity, compassion, and love. The perpetrator knows how to appear kind and caring while intertwining abusive behavior, causing the person on the receiving end to become powerless.

Emotional abuse is a method of controlling, manipulating, belittling, and invalidating a person over time. It is often hard to spot in the moment as it can be seen as benign or even “normal” to most observers.

But as this behavior is repeated time and time again, the insidious compound effect of this form of hidden abuse causes its victims to lose confidence in themselves, stop trusting in their own decisions, feel devalued and unimportant, and blame themselves for being the cause of, and sometimes even deserving, of the abusive behavior.

Free Lessons:
​
How to stop hurting those you love

Notice changes right away with these life-changing lessons on how to stop emotionally abusive behavior and give your relationship the best chance at healing.

    No spam, just value.

    For more information, visit https://healedbeing.com

    [Read more…]

    Filed Under: Abandonment, Blog article, Divorce, Emotional Abuse, Emotional Healing, Emotional Withdrawal, Empathy, Judgment, Manipulation, Marriage, Narcissism, Relationships, Toxic Behavior, Toxic Thinking Tagged With: Am I emotionally abusive?, Can the emotional abuser change?, how do I stop being emotionally abusive?

    8 Steps to Becoming the Ultimate People-Pleaser

    4 Comments

    If you find yourself people-pleasing for love, attention, or fear of confrontation, then this article is for you.

    As a former people-pleaser, I’ve learned exactly what it takes to become proficient at it. I’ve gained much wisdom since growing out of that phase of my life, so I thought I’d share with you my tips on how to become the best people-pleaser possible.

    Of course, if you are already a people-pleaser, you may gain some extra skills by reading this article.

    This article is meant to be tongue-in-cheek but also contains an important reminder about how people-pleasing almost always leads to unhappiness.

    Are you ready? Here are the eight steps to becoming the ultimate people-pleaser:

    [Read more…]

    Filed Under: anger, Behavior, Codependency, Depression, Dysfunction, enabling, Family, Insecurity, Negative Emotions, People Pleaser, Personal Boundaries, Podcast Episode, Relationships, Self-Esteem, Self-Worth, Toxic Behavior Tagged With: How do I stop people pleasing?, Is people pleasing bad?, What is people pleasing?

    Is it ever okay to release toxic family?

    Leave a Comment

    I received an email from someone who was very angry with me. She said “You should be ashamed of yourself for teaching that it is okay to break ties with family!“

    She was referencing an episode I did on toxic family members and how I said if they are too toxic to be around that it’s okay to part ways with them.  [Read more…]

    Filed Under: abuse, anger, Codependency, Control, Dysfunction, Emotional Abuse, Emotional Healing, enabling, Family, Narcissism, Personal Boundaries, Relationships, Toxic Behavior, Toxic People Tagged With: Is it ever okay to release toxic family?, letting go of toxic family, Releasing toxic family members

    Giving up your power to toxic people

    Leave a Comment

    Giving up your power to toxic people
    Giving up your power to toxic people
    Episode play icon
    Giving up your power to toxic people
    December 2, 2018

    In any gathering or social situation, you are bound to run into a toxic person or two. You know, those people that don’t look forward to seeing again next year?

    Toxic family members especially can create a nightmare scenario. But dealing with them doesn’t have to be the ordeal it is. This episode helps you learn the tools you need to make it through the evening or week.

    Filed Under: Ask Paul, Emotional Abuse, Family, Personal Boundaries, Toxic Behavior, Toxic People, Toxic Thinking Tagged With: How do I stop my family from getting me angry?, My parents are so awful, Toxic people are driving me crazy

    • « Previous Page
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
    • Next Page »

    Categories

    Love and Abuse
    The podcast about navigating the difficult relationship

    Get the book!

    Click to buy anything on Amazon to support TOB!

    Copyright © TheOverwhelmedBrain.com - The Overwhelmed Brain, LLC All Rights Reserved

    Subscribe to TOB Insights: The Emotional Intelligence Newsletter
    x
    Invalid email address
    Thanks for subscribing! If you don't get an email from me shortly, check junk folder.

    TOB Insights

    The Emotional Intelligence newsletter

    Invalid email address
    I never spam
    Thanks for subscribing! Check your inbox.