Perspecticide, A Technique Widely Used By Manipulators

Manipulation is the result of different strategies that seek to condition the behavior of the other without being aware of what is happening. It is closely related precisely to seeing the other as an object that we can manipulate. In this case, we will talk about one of the most extreme communication techniques, it is the so-called perspecticide.

What exactly is this mind manipulation technique? We talk about how it works and how to detect that we are being manipulated.

What is perspecticide?

The word perspecticide is a neologism, although it has long been used to refer to the brainwashing of prisoners of war. In addition, this term has also been used to explain the psychological mechanisms that cause people to end up “trapped” in cults.

Consequences of perspecticide are the loss of perspective, even cultivating the thought that we do not have the right, because we are not valid, to have our own opinions. Thus, through this phenomenon, we can lose our perspective and forget what it is we believe for ourselves.

In this way, we end up adopting the ideas, goals or objectives of the person who is trying to dominate us. As a result of all this, we renounce our desires and needs and we even end up losing our own identity or our own sense of “I”. As we will see, perspecticide is a technique widely used by manipulators.

How does perspecticide work?

The phenomenon of perspecticide involves an abusive relationship, of control, domination and manipulation by one person towards another (or towards a group of them). With the passage of time, the person who suffers perspecticide, that is, the “victim”, ends up changing their way of thinking and acting, influenced and even dominated by the person who acts on them.

Thus, the manipulator or manipulator (the one who commits perspecticide), ends up defining the world of the person to whom they submit. Determine and decide how it should think and act and of course the relationship that is configured between the two.

As we can see, it is not a question of a mutual or bidirectional influence in the relationship, in which the two parties exercise their dominance or their “role”; in this case, we speak of a one-way relationship of submission, control and dominance. That is, from one party (manipulator) to another (victim or subject).

Restrict the victim’s world

The manipulator, progressively, ends up “brainwashing” his victim, until he completely loses his identity and ends up acting as the first one wishes. The subject person loses even his ability to decide, since the manipulator gradually restricts his world.

Thus, the victim is confined little by little in an increasingly reduced environment, and is isolated towards the world of the other. What consequences does this have? That the person cannot receive support, help or feedback on what is happening from the people around them (because they are increasingly isolated).

In short: her loved ones cannot alert her to the danger she is in. What the manipulator does is impose his own vision of the world and his ideas, and this is what ends up being significant in the world of the victim.

Perspecticide strategies

The perspecticide can occur both in relationships and in relationships of friendship, family and of course, in sects. Some of the strategies or actions used by the person who executes the perspecticide are the following:

• Obsessively controls the victim.
• He is the one who sets the terms and “rules” of the relationship.
• “Decide” how the victim should spend their time (and with whom).
• It changes the victim’s self-concept and even their way of being.

Am I suffering perspecticide?

Do you have doubts about whether or not you are really suffering from a perspecticide process? We leave you some warning signs that could be indicating that you are being subjected to this phenomenon by a manipulator:

• You feel more and more insecure in your decisions.
• You feel like you are losing reference points.
• You no longer recognize yourself.
• You feel unable to achieve things on your own.
• You apply negative labels to yourself.
• You start to doubt your own opinions and abilities.

To be able to say that we suffer perspecticide, all these “symptoms” or warning signs are felt as a result of manipulation, domination or control by another person. That is, they are born as a result of these interactions with the other, it is not that you feel that way “just because.”

If you suffer from some of these symptoms and you have someone close to you who you think is manipulating you, ask for help and leave this relationship as soon as possible. It is not easy to get out of the “clutches” of a manipulator, but identifying these signals and becoming aware of what is happening is the first step to do so.