1. Be calm.
Equanimity will help you hide your emotions and prevent another person from influencing you. Most conflicters deliberately behave in such a way as to piss a person off and begin to sort things out with him. It is important not to succumb to tricks, take a couple of breaths, relieve internal tension and calmly continue the dialogue. When the difficult person feels that you are confident in yourself and are not going to defend yourself, then he will lose the desire to behave in this way.

2. Sympathize with your interlocutor.
Often difficult people behave defiantly because they are overwhelmed by pain that eats them from within. In such a situation, a person needs sympathy, not scolding and punishment. Therefore, try to put yourself in the shoes of your interlocutor, feel what the person is feeling, and show attention to him.

3.Interact consciously.
Mindful communication is when you can detach yourself from negative emotions by remaining calm, reasonable, and direct throughout the conversation. This is the ability to conduct a constructive conversation, without paying attention to sarcasm or irony. For example, to interrupt a never-ending stream of thoughts, ask directly “what do you ultimately offer?” Or, to discourage the other person and dispel anger, respond that the other person may be right.

4. Stop the conversation if it has gone too far.
If you behaved confidently and consciously, sympathized with the person, but the conversation is still accompanied by negativity. So it's time to interrupt it. You can do this using the following phrases:

“Are you sure that your proposal is the only correct one?”
“You think I don’t understand what you’re trying to do now?”
“Having listened to all your reproaches and complaints, I understand that you talked too much about this. What way out of this situation do you propose?

5.Draw boundaries.
Another way to sober up a person and put him in his place is to point out your boundaries that cannot be violated. To do this, speak to your interlocutor confidently, in a strong and calm voice, looking straight into his eyes. Tell the person, “I see you've had a difficult day, let's end the conversation here.” Such behavior, if it doesn’t calm you down, will definitely sober up a person and make you think.