Ways to Beat A Controlling Person At Their Own Game

As mentioned, engage in mind games with a controlling person at your own risk. Remember, you’re reading this now because they’re getting to you. The ONLY real way to beat a controlling person at their own game is NOT to play.

Still willing to engage? Below find some ideas:

Keep it vague

Play your controlling person at his or her own game: make all your statements vague. If they ask you to confirm a plan, avoid giving an answer however you can.

Or seem to be saying one thing, but then later on claim that wasn’t your intended remark at all. (However, one point to keep in mind is if you have kids with this person it may not be easy or desirable to keep things vague. The mental health and well-being of your children are impacted here.)

Change your personality every so often

Part of being unpredictable and hard to pin down is cultivating an image of yourself that people won’t know what to expect. Be loud and outgoing one day, then switch it up and pull the introvert card on another day. We are veering into bizarre behavior territory, yes. But if your mission is to confuse a person who’s trying to control you, then shifting your mood and behavior at unexpected times will certainly throw them off.

Be prepared though for retaliation, as controlling people usually perceive an offense against them even when one wasn’t even intended. So if you are actually trying to offend them they will likely pick up on it right away and may just try to crush you over it.

Imitate the controlling person

One way to get on the nerves of a controlling person is to pretend you’re them and tailor your responses to them in ways that they themselves act and behave. You might have some fun with this, for a while. But be prepared that if your controlling partner catches on to your antics, he or she may well escalate things. Go “gray rock.” Many people suggest that flat affect and minimal response are good ways to avoid unpleasant encounters with controlling people. So no matter what they say or do, they can’t seem to get a rise out of you, or in fact, anything that all from you. The problem with this is that gray rock just blends you into the background for total submission. That’s not really what you were going for when you searched for “how to mess with a controlling person,” was it?

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