Denial strategy # 8: Manipulation

"I’ll only admit that I have problems, if you agree to solve them for me!”  

When problems box someone into a corner, they manipulate.  Manipulators use the people who want to help them by transferring responsibility to them while deflecting any away from themselves.  People who help are often the only ones offering a genuine effort.  The manipulator prefers to view themselves as helpless victims of circumstance.  This is essentially a quick and effortless fix which also provides a scapegoat should efforts fail; the people who help.  Attempts to delegate responsibility to the manipulator will often result in a negative and hostile reaction.  Essentially they are enacting a denial strategy that will result in others taking the responsibility for their behaviors.  Manipulators will clean up their act, but only if someone else does it for them.