Pastorale berading aan tieners wat in romantiese verhoudings gemanipuleer word

Abstract

When romantic teenage relationships become destructive, it can be extremely harmful to one or both parties involved. Through empirical research, it was shown that the destructive influence of manipulation is significant and that it deserves to receive more attention. Unfortunately, teenage crushes aren’t always as innocent as presumed. Thence, the need of counselling those affected by manipulative romantic relationship(s) can’t be underestimated. Manipulation in teenage relationships consists of different techniques. These techniques were examined incisively and discussed under the following headings: Interest, Charm, Fraud, Control, Possessiveness, Brutality and Blame. Thereafter, the study explains (a) why certain people become involved in manipulative relationship, (b) who is susceptible to a manipulative relationship, (c) under which circumstances teenagers are most vulnerable to such a relationship, (d) the possible effects of manipulation as well as (e) reasons why some teenagers stay in manipulative relationships. Furthermore, a normative perspective is given on the constitution of healthy romantic relationships and why manipulation is biblically wrong. This contributed to the study being able to give counselling guidelines to counsellors who are working with manipulated teenagers. Since manipulation in teenage relationships is so unique in certain aspects, it was necessary to establish a counselling model, which is specifically focused on the manipulated teenager. This model consists of three phases, each explained and made practical through theme-oriented questions and activities, suggested for the counselling process.