Yeah. I have first hand experience in dealing with these types. They will exploit normal social codes and tendencies, and as such it's very difficult to fully protect yourself against such people without destroying your own ability to function as a social creature. They exploit trust, good will, generosity, the benefit of the doubt, and more.
If you take these aspects out of all your social interactions for your own protection, not only will you be likely miserable and paranoid, but you'll probably develop some level of sociopathy yourself.
I think you can educate yourself all day long with these stories in some attempt to never be burned by these types of people, but actually dealing with the complicated web of factors first hand will probably result in you failing that and getting burned anyways.
I have had to deal with that nearly my entire life. Yes it certainly does make you paranoid and does make you miserable. Unfortunately I cannot simply leave because I'm bad off financially. These same people in my life want me to remain financially dependent upon them. Hopefully by retaining the skills that I have I can pull myself up off the ground and obtain a regular income. Antipsychotics help.
I'm so bad off financially that I wouldn't even be able to eat if I was to move out, let alone take a hot shower or own a car.
Don't forget also that these same type of people can and will do everything in their power to destroy your life so that you remain dependent upon them. Thats what I went through as a kid/teen and adult. My father was like that and every day it was a struggle just leaving my bedroom yet he would put me down to control me then say sorry in the afternoon, then repeat the process the day after.
Then he would tell me why I don't go outside more often. I'm like afraid for my life from him and he's asking me why I don't go outside more, oh wait, you told me that the outside world is full of bad people and that you want me to obey the words of a book before I'm allowed to. But I'm betting that you wouldn't let me live a normal life anyway even if I did start to go outside and have a life.
Can you imagine the sheer insanity of being forced to turn away from education and obtaining a job, being told by your parents that, then having to pick the pieces of your life up when you are 38 without any education credentials, no job experience.
Its just pure horror going through it. Thankfully my mum isn't as bad but she has friends who think its atrocious that I'm still living at home but not interested in their teachings. Then they get angry if I don't attend on a regular basis. If I tell them that I wouldn't be able to afford to eat if I was living on my own they don't care! They tell me that "people in 3rd world countries are doing far worse than you" I think to myself at that point... "well do you want to be a friend to me?"
And if I mention any of this to them, they label me crazy. Which works perfect because what I've been through would send just about anybody crazy.
Just pure horror. I don't want to offend anybody but sometimes you've got to just to survive.
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Yeah, I think many of us have had to deal with our own demons. I lived with my father after my parents divorced and he and I fought constantly and I mean real honest to God fist-fights until I finally left home when I was seventeen. I joined the US military five days after I graduated from high school so that I could get away from home and away from the small dead end town that I was in, and to learn a skill and to get a real paying job, and as a way to pay for a future college education. It was probably the smartest move that I ever made. If you're still young enough to join then I highly recommend it as a way to get out of your situation and to move on with your life.