Welcome to Episode 5 of The Rise Room! In this episode, I’m bringing you into the murky territory of control, charm, and emotional manipulation, exploring how manipulators and narcissists operate, how their behaviors impact mental health, and how you can reclaim your power and peace.

This one’s for anyone who’s ever left a conversation wondering if their memory is wrong, their feelings are too much, or their reality is just warped. We’re pulling back the curtain on what’s really going on.
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Episode Highlights

🔑 A manipulator uses guilt, fear, or emotional tactics to steer outcomes in their favour.

🔑 A narcissist often has a fragile core, needs constant admiration, and reacts with control or withdrawal when that admiration isn’t there.

🔑 Gaslighting blurs truth and makes you doubt your memory, your feelings, your sanity.

🔑 Coercive control turns emotional or social independence into an invisible trap.

🔑 These aren’t just “bad traits” they’re patterns that quietly degrade your mental health: anxiety, self-doubt, emotional exhaustion.

🔑 We’ll hear real-life phrases you may recognize (“After everything I’ve done for you…”, “You’re too sensitive”, “I’m just trying to protect you”) and unpack what’s going on underneath.

🔑 Research tells us that narcissistic traits and manipulative behaviors connect to higher risk of trauma, relationship harm and mental-health issues. (See citations below.)

🔑 I share my personal journey of realising I was being gaslit, how I rebuilt trust in my own memory and feeling, and what healing looked like.