Warning Signs You Are Being Brainwashed

1. You've become isolated from your loved ones and no longer see them

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One of the most obvious forms of brainwashing/manipulation is when you've slowly been isolated from your loved ones. Perhaps you had a close, or reasonably close relationship before, and now you never even see them. You may even feel uncomfortable reaching out now.

2. They enforced beliefs and practices upon you

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Brainwashing comes in many forms. It can be done by one person, or a group of people. Sometimes people may believe in certain things that they then enforce upon you and you feel trapped inside unable to remove yourself, so that you have to take up their beliefs and practices alongside them.

3. You don't feel like you can think clearly

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When someone is being manipulated it plays with their mind, and so if you are being manipulated you may feel as though you can't even think clearly anymore. You may not be able to clearly lay out on the table what is happening to you because everything feels so confusing and blurry right now.

4. You feel that your identity is tied to other people

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You once had your own identity and it was set within yourself. Now you don't even know who you are without this other person or this group of people. You now feel so tied to them that yours and their identity are one. Without them now, you feel like you wouldn't even know who you were anymore!

5. You keep forgetting things that have happened

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So one thing that can happen when somebody is being brainwashed by someone is that they can start forgetting things. Their memories may start to blank out and you may start to forget things. This can be a sign of trauma, when the brain starts to forget things. And, because you've been manipulated into seeing a certain narrative that nothing else seems real.

6. You can't control your impulses like you used to

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Now you don't feel as though you have control over your impulses. In the past, you never experienced this before or ever felt this way. Brainwashing works at such a level that you begin to act in ways you feel as though you cannot even control anymore.

7. You disassociate yourself

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Disassociation happens when you mentally separate yourself from what is going on so that you feel as though it is not reality. This is one coping mechanism that your mind may use to be able to separate itself and protect itself from what is happening. You may feel as though you are almost watching yourself, like you're a different person.

8. You've completely changed how you think

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So the past you, before you had been brainwashed had a whole different way to think. You had strong opinions and hobbies and things you were passionate about. Now, you think in totally new ways. You've changed your mindset so much that you may recognise something is not right here.

9. Someone else controls your money

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A very common form of brainwashing is when somebody else controls or has influence over your financial situation, or what you can and can't spend money on. If this is happening to you then it is time to acknowledge that you are in a toxic situation where you are being manipulated.

10. Your views before were very different

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You may have previously had a view of the world which is completely unrecognizable to the views you have right now. When someone is manipulated, they use their views and push them upon you so that over time you come to believe that that is really what you think too.

11. Your old priorities are no longer your priorities now

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What were your priorities before all of this began? Was it your family? Your career? Your dog? Whatever it was, think about your priorities now. Have they changed so drastically you may have been brainwashed by another? Although our priorities naturally change, they usually stay as important aspects in our life. But, maybe not when somebody  has been manipulated.

12. You feel dependent upon someone else

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You shouldn't feel dependent upon somebody else because it is always super important to feel okay on your own. Perhaps you once had independence, and through manipulation over time you have become to feel completely dependent upon this person or this group of people.

13. You feel totally powerless

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The feeling of powerfulness can consume you because you may feel like you have no control over your situation and that there's nothing you can do to change things, even if you wanted to. But this is not true. If you're being brainwashed you need to seek support from somebody outside of this group/person's circle.

14. You reflect on your past self as thought they were a different person

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Often we grow up and we look back and feel as though our past self has evolved and changed so much because years have gone by. But, usually we still recognize that person. When somebody is brainwashed, they can feel as though their past self (and relatively recent past) is a whole different person to who they are right now, in a relatively short space of time.

15. You feel obsessed with someone

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You may acknowledge that what you feel isn't love or friendship, it is obsession. Often a brainwasher can make you feel as though you are in love with them because they warp the sense of reality. What you may be feeling is an obsession which has been created due to the manipulation of the situation.

16. You are rewarded for your devotion

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When you are in a manipulative situation or you are being manipulated by people, your devotion and loyalty will be rewarded, just as your lack of devotion will be reprimanded in someway - most probably through more emotional manipulation. You'll be made to feel as though the best thing to do is devote all of you to them.

17. You are punished in some way for contradicting what this person says

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Brainwashing comes in so many different ways that whenever you do something against the person controlling you they will use techniques such as guilt tripping to stop you contradicting them again. It will make you feel bad for doing anything you know they wouldn't agree with.

18. You know someone else is controlling what you do

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You know deep down, or maybe you suspect that what you are doing and what you are thinking isn't actually YOU. You are being manipulated into acting and behaving a certain ways and someone is completely controlling what you do through the use of manipulation.

19. You feel guilty going against the rules you've been told to follow

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You've been told exactly how to act. You've been given the set of rules, and you KNOW that you'll be reprimanded in some way if you do not follow them. This is clear brainwashing/manipulation techniques and if this is you you need to reach out to get yourself out of this situation.

20. You feel completely insecure

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Your confidence has been totally lost and you feel completely insecure. You feel full of self-doubt and you are not sure whether the feelings you are feeling are valid - but they are. You are being brainwashed and one of the techniques is manipulating your feelings to beating down your confidence.

21. You've lost all of your independence

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You do not feel like you are your own person anymore, you've lost the essence of who you are and you've completely lost your independence. When you look in the mirror it's like you don't even recognize yourself anymore and you feel as though you have no independence over who you are.

22. You don't feel like you'd be allowed to leave

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The thing is, you feel completely trapped in this situation. Even if your recognize that you need to get out, and even if you want to, you just don't know how. They have manipulated you into thinking you cannot leave, like you have no choice but to stay.

23. You feel completely alone

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You feel like you are totally alone. You've been brainwashed into feeling like you have nobody around you. They make you think this so that you do not leave, so that you feel like you've got nowhere to go apart from stay and devote all of you onto your manipulator.

24. Someone tells you how to feel

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You are not even sure of your own emotions anymore, you don't have the confidence to believe how you feel, or to even know how you should feel right now. The person brainwashing you and manipulating your emotions is telling you how to feel and what your emotions should be.

25. Outsiders have tried to warn you

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When you're inside a situation it isn't the same as seeing it from a fresh perspective. Manipulation occurs because they mask what is happening. Perhaps outsiders in your life have noticed and have tried to warn you. When you hear this is consider that people are just looking out for your interests.

26. You no longer feel happy

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You no longer feel happy, or not happiness in a pure form. You may believe that you are happy. However, if you compare it to before the manipulation started you'll realize that this emotion is something that mimics happiness and all of your old, raw emotions have been manipulated away.

28. You've been made to feel like they are the purpose of your life

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This person or these people have made you feel as though they are the only purpose to your life now. Not only do you feel like you have to be there, the brainwashing may also make you feel like this is what you want. Only until you realise what is happening can you break free.

29. You are watched and monitored

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Everywhere you go, and everything you do or even say, you feel like it's being watched and monitored by somebody else. This is not you being paranoid, it is a sign that you are under the manipulation of somebody else who is trying to watch and monitor you.

30. Who you see and where you go is controlled

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You cannot go anywhere, you cannot see anyone without this person or these people knowing. You feel as though you can only go to certain places with certain people who have been 'approved'. Your movements are controlled because you are being brainwashed - they may even pretend it is for your own 'safety'.