Written By: Sarah Norman

“You’re overreacting”: This dismisses your feelings as exaggerated or unwarranted, making you doubt the validity of your emotions. It invalidates your experience by implying you’re not handling things properly.

“You’re too sensitive”: This statement implies that your emotional responses are excessive or inappropriate, suggesting that your feelings are flawed or wrong. It shifts the focus from the issue at hand to your perceived emotional inadequacy.

Emotional inadequacy

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“That never happened”: Denying events or conversations that you clearly remember causes you to question your own memory and perception. This can make you feel confused and insecure about what is real.

Confused and insecure

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“You’re imagining things”: This suggests that your perceptions or experiences are not based in reality, encouraging you to doubt your own senses and judgment. It can create a sense of isolation and self-doubt.

Sense of isolation

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“It’s all in your head”: This implies that the problem or concern is purely a mental construct rather than a legitimate issue, undermining your feelings and experiences as being insignificant or imagined.

Being insignificant

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“You’re just being paranoid”: Labeling your concerns as paranoia dismisses them as irrational fears rather than valid worries. It makes you question whether your concerns are justified or if you’re overly anxious.

Overly anxious

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“I was just joking, don’t be so serious”: This trivializes your feelings and responses by framing them as an overreaction to a harmless joke. It dismisses any hurt or offense caused, suggesting you’re overly sensitive or lacking humor.

Lacking humor

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“You’re making a big deal out of nothing”: This downplays the significance of the issue you’re addressing, making it seem as though your concerns are unimportant or exaggerated. It pressures you to minimize your feelings and not address the real issue.

Real issue

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“Stop being so dramatic”: Accusing you of being dramatic implies that your emotional responses are theatrical or excessive, rather than legitimate. It invalidates your feelings and suggests that you’re at fault for how you’re reacting.

Being so dramatic

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“You’re remembering it wrong”: This challenges your recollection of events, causing you to doubt your memory and perception. It shifts the blame from the actual issue to your supposed inaccuracies, making you question your reality.

Making you question

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