Tactic · control
Love Bombing
Intensity dressed as love. Speed used to skip the parts where you'd normally pay attention.
What it is
Overwhelming affection, attention, gifts, and promises early on — designed to accelerate attachment past the point of careful evaluation.
Sounds like
- "I've never felt this with anyone."
- "You're my soulmate. I knew it the moment I saw you."
- "Move in with me. Why wait?"
Why it works
It manufactures a bond before you've had time to build one. Later, when the behavior turns, you're already invested in the version you first met.
What it does to you
You spend the rest of the relationship trying to earn your way back to the person from the first month.
Pattern check
- Did the relationship move faster than any before it?
- Were 'firsts' rushed — 'I love you,' moving in, meeting family?
- Do you keep chasing the person they were at the start?
Reclaim
Real love can wait a week. Intensity is not intimacy. Slow is a boundary, not a rejection.
Next tactic
Isolation