Game Over: Uncovering the Secrets of Unhealthy Relationship Behaviours and Manipulation (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781066655601)

Is there something going on in your relationship, a friendship, in your family or at work that just doesn't feel right? Maybe you feel confused about a relationship you've been in, replaying conversations trying to work out what was going on. "Maybe I'm overreacting." "Maybe I'm too sensitive." "Maybe it's me." "Maybe they didn't mean it like that." You may even have wondered whether you're dealing with a narcissist, someone being manipulative, or abuse.

STOP! One of the biggest signs of an unhealthy relationship is confusion. Because this is what happens when someone is playing power games, giving mixed messages, shifting the goalposts, saying one thing and doing another, making promises that never intend to keep, or leaving you feeling responsible for things that aren't even yours. It can feel like you're going mad and crazy, living on eggshells, or with Jekyll and Hyde and never knowing which version you are going to see next. This is no way to live.

I'm Julia Summers, a counsellor and clinical supervisor who has spent years helping people make sense of unhealthy and abusive relationships. This is the book I wished I could have given my clients in the counselling room. Drawing on psychological research, professional experience and real-life examples, Game Over explores how people gain power and control over others, and why these behaviours are so hard to see.

• Over 60 tactics and techniques people use to gain power and control over you
• What people are doing, why they do it, and why it's so confusing
• How gaslighting, love bombing, coercive control, guilt, blame and other unhealthy behaviours really work
• How to spot the predictable patterns of manipulation, unhealthy behaviour and abuse
• Why these patterns can leave us feeling anxious and stuck
• How to protect yourself and trust your own judgement again
• What healthy relationships look like, so you can recognise the difference

Once you can see the patterns it's a lot easier to say Game Over