What this is
Some conversations leave you more confused than when they started. You remember being sure of something, and by the end you are apologizing, doubting your memory, or wondering whether you are the problem.
The Four Entry Questions are a short writing practice for sorting that out. They come from Black Swans Undercover “N”: Covert Psychological Manipulation Finally Explained, a book by A. Damianakis about hidden control in close relationships: how it works through words, timing and what is left unsaid, and how a person recovers their own judgment.
Each day you answer one question about one recent exchange, the same exchange all week. On day five you put the four answers side by side. After that, the page stays here for you as a daily journal.
- Cost
- Free. No account, no email, no payment.
- Time
- About ten minutes a day, for five days.
- Privacy
- What you write is saved only in this browser on this device. It is never sent to us or to anyone. Use the same device and browser each day to see your earlier entries.
- Safety
- If you may be monitored, use a device the other person cannot reach. The Quick exit button, or the Esc key, leaves this page at once.
Your five days
Where this leads
The four questions sort one exchange. The course Black Swans Undercover “N” teaches you to recognize the whole pattern: 116 named tactics in six phases, from the first distortions of reality to what happens after a person leaves. Thirty-nine video lessons in the author's own voice, each with its own work in an online workbook, and a private Pattern Map that gathers your marks into one picture.
The other free starts
For educational purposes only. This is not counseling, pastoral or medical care of any kind.
If you need help now: call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788. In danger: 911.