Emotional extortion

Bullying itself, however, is only one form of emotional extortion. Parents need to recognize a number of others. Each is an expression of strong emotionality that plays on a particular emotional vulnerability in parents. 

A tactic used by many children (and by some adults), emotional extortion is particularly common with young substance abusers who feel driven to get their way at any cost. To stop this manipulation, parents must refuse to play along. They must resist the pull of their own emotional vulnerabil-... 

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