It’s important that you know how to deal with emotional blackmail. I think there are few areas where it is more rife than in health care. Conventional health care. You will be unlikely to find it in natural health care, perhaps not impossible, but unlikely because the whole area is much more relaxed.
You have probably witnessed this yourself at some stage. Doctors, veterinarians and their staff feel that only they have the answers to proper health care and so tend to use any way that is guaranteed to arouse guilt in you. This way you are far more likely to agree to their ways. If you like, you are being controlled.
Guilt is the main response you will feel when you are being emotionally blackmailed. This may develop into a worry and a stream of ‘what ifs’. Both guilt and worry are disempowering emotions which have nothing whatever to do with truth. Or with proper health care.
If you choose not to vaccinate your child or your pet, you are likely to face emotional blackmail if you need to consult a doctor, hospital or vet on any other, totally unrelated, matter.
If you have not taken the medication suggested which is claimed to prevent or treat disease, and a blood test suggests (I use that word deliberately as no test is totally conclusive) that the disease is present, you will probably face a barrage of emotional abuse, sometimes watered down, but not always. If you choose not to go down the conventional cancer treatment you are likely to be pressurised, sometimes even harassed.
Those who use emotional blackmail to get people to comply with their ways come from a very weak position. If something is good, there is not need to use any tactics. It’s curious, that in conventional medicine, which is so widely used, there is still a need to use such tactics. Are they afraid of something? Perhaps you discovering that it isn’t all it is cracked up to be?
Once guilt and worry have been aroused in you, you are in a weak position. You can never make a sound judgement. You cannot feel what is right for you, your child or your pet. Those voices have been drowned out. It’s almost too late to make an informed choice. But not quite.
You need to learn how to deal with emotional blackmail before it arises again. And the first thing to do is to recognise that it is happening. That the guilt and the worry has been intentionally instilled in you. It is unlikely that you will get rid of that quickly, so you need to work with it.
Once you have acknowledged within yourself that this is happening, become conscious of your breath. Keep it deep and slow. Don’t let it quicken. Quick breath speeds up your heart, then all is lost.
Listen politely to the person. Don’t let their possible lack of manners or respect upset you in anyway. Don’t agree with anything they say, simply thank them for their concern and say you will think about it. Smile slightly if you feel that helps. Then extract yourself (and your child or pet) as quickly as possible.
It is possible they have a valid concern, but you will only see that when you can be calm and objective. So don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. But make sure you ARE calm and objective and ARE looking at all the possibilities you know about before taking any action.
You may like to get a second opinion or do some research yourself. You may be coming from a completely different mindset. Perhaps a more healthy one.
One thing is certain though; when you are made to feel guilty or worried because of your actions, you are not being treated with respect. Maybe it’s time to find someone who will.
Learning how to deal with emotional blackmail is very empowering, because it firmly puts you in the driver’s seat. None of us have all the answers, or anywhere near. We all are best guided by our experiences, our feelings, yes our intuition. Yes you may make mistakes, you may feel regrets. But they will be because you cared enough to try to make the right choices, not because you were overruled or manipulated.