Love bombing occurs when someone expresses excessive praise and affection at a rate that is disproportionate to the current stage of their relationship, in an attempt to manipulate the person they’re dating into committing to them quickly.
A study conducted with a sample of 484 participants found that love-bombing behavior was correlated with people who have low self-esteem, exhibit narcissistic tendencies, or have an insecure attachment style.
Love bombing may initially appear as if someone is excited about getting to know you and may feel alluring, especially if you’ve been struggling with dating inconsistent or emotionally unavailable people who are not on the same page as you about commitment.
Love bombing can set you up to overlook red flags and fall for someone who is creating a false illusion. Yet sooner or later, the rug will be pulled out from underneath you when the mask starts to slip and their true colors begin to show.
Whether love bombing is something you’ve encountered before or something you’ve never experienced but want to protect yourself from in the future, consider the following 8 tips next time you’re dating someone new:
1. Keep a steady pace.
Love bombing is a sped-up version of dating that creates the illusion of closeness. In order to recognize the warning signs, it’s important to keep a steady pace when you’re getting to know someone new—no matter how tempting it is to throw all caution to the wind.
A steady pace means continuing to maintain your hobbies and investing energy in other areas of your life outside of this relationship that are important to you. A love bomber will often try to dominate your time early on by keeping in constant contact and pressuring you to see them more often than you’re comfortable with.
Love bombing is not the behavior of someone who is simply excited to get to know you better; it’s a pattern of behavior designed to get you attached to them as quickly as possible. Since love bombers can be impulsive and impatient, keeping a steady pace during the initial stages of dating has a high likelihood of deterring them.
Keeping a steady pace also means that during the initial stages of dating, you are taking your time getting to know someone before committing to exclusivity, planning future activities that are 3-6 months........