Have you ever experienced someone showering you with excessive attention, love, and compliments at the beginning of a relationship, and then suddenly everything turns upside down and that turn of events causes you to feel insecure, and maybe even feel like you have to earn love again?
Such a phenomenon is known as love bombing and is a manipulation technique.
"It is characterized by a rapid rapprochement, or rather, a kind of bonding with a person and an excessive expression of love through excessive attention, giving compliments, insisting on spending as much time together as possible, to move on to another level of a more serious relationship. And usually, in that initial period, you don't even see it," explains Lidija Pejović, a psychologist.
He adds that such behavior is first noticed by people around us, but that setting boundaries is key to a healthy relationship.
"Sometimes we simply have to be guided by our inner feelings and what we are okay with, what we are not okay with, and what is adequate for us in terms of giving and receiving love and attention. There are people who see at the beginning that something is not okay and that it is actually a gross violation of boundaries. Because really, when you look at it from the outside, the person who is the victim is somehow trapped and somehow powerless over everything that is happening, while the other side is actually dictating," adds Pejović.
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