What is Gaslighting Emotional Abuse?

What is gaslighting?

Gaslighting is a psychological manipulation tactic. It is a crazy-making form of emotional abuse. 

Gaslighting occurs when someone intentionally twists your perception of reality for their own gain.

That gain may be to:

• win a fight,
• cover-up their actions,
• make you think something is true when it is not, or
• make you think something is false when it is true, or
• undermine your trust in yourself.  

Gaslighting meaning 

Gaslighting definition: Gaslighting is a verb that dictionary.com defines as "to cause a person to doubt his or her sanity through the use of psychological manipulation."

The origins of the term Gaslighting 

Gaslight is a play by Patrick Hamilton set in the era when gas lamps lit homes and streets.

The Gaslight movie starring Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman was adapted from the play in 1944.

The term gaslighting, which refers to trying to make your partner feel crazy, was created based on the story’s depiction of a man trying to do just that.

The male lead character sets up his wife, Paula, to slowly undermine her belief in her perceptions of things. He moves items from where she put them and then criticizes her for “losing” them. He creates the illusion that he is leaving the house every night, but doubles back to enter the attic so that he can search through her dead aunt’s things looking for valuable jewels. He accuses his wife of being delusional to explain the footsteps she hears in the attic and the dimming of the house gaslights caused by him turning on the attic lamp.

"Suddenly, I'm beginning not to trust my memory at all."

--Paula, in Gaslight

 

Gaslighting is emotional abuse

Gaslighting is one form of emotional abuse seen in abusive relationships.

A gaslighting partner may try to convince you that:

• what you saw, you didn’t see,

• what you didn’t see, you saw,

• what you said, you didn’t say,

• what you didn’t say, you said,

• what they said, they didn't say,

• what they didn't say, they said,

• what they did, they didn't do,

• what they didn't do, they did,

• what you heard, you didn’t hear, or

• what you didn’t hear, was there for the hearing.

Gaslighting undermines your sense of reality and trust in your perceptions, and it shuts down conversation about topics the manipulator wants to avoid. 

For more on Gaslighting

Check out my other blog post: Gaslighting Quotes

For more on Partner Abuse

For more information about all forms of Partner Abuse check out my books:

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