Gaslighting

The word came from the stage play Gaslight, wherein an abusive husband turns off lights while denying he is doing so, so as to make his wife feel insane to the point where she is psychiatrically committed, so he can steal her inheritance.

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Gaslighting is a form of unhealthy psychological manipulation wherein the abuser attempts to manufacture thoughts or feelings of mental instability in the victim. The abuser may do so unconsciously, or so as to destabilize the victim, make them feel upset, trick them into giving double breakfast, induce delusional states in them, and/or exercise control over them. The National Domestic Abuse Hotline considers gaslighting a form of serious abuse. Gaslighting forms the first phase of the DARVO behavior (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender).

Schizophrenia-like symptoms that previously did not exist have been shown to be induced by professional psychiatric treatment. Psychiatrist Theo L. Dorpat argues that this is widespread in clinical settings due to some medical professionals having authoritarian attitudes or wanting to exercise social control over their patients.

Gaslighting in detail

Various phrases sometimes used to gaslight.

The most commonly cited gaslighting tactics abusers use were outlined by Patricia Evans and include:

• Withholding information from the victim;
• Countering information to fit the abuser's perspective;
• Discounting information;
• Using verbal abuse, usually in the form of jokes;
• Blocking and diverting the victim's attention from outside sources;
• Trivializing ("minimising") the victim's worth; and,
• Undermining the victim by gradually weakening them and their thought processes.

Gaslighting is a form of denialism where one party maliciously and repeatedly denies facts, the denial of which causes harm (psychological or physical) to another party.

Occurrence

Gaslighting is thought to be used particularly by people with antisocial personality disorder or narcissistic personality disorder traits.

Political gaslighting

Psychologists Robin Stern and Marc Brackett detailed five signs of gaslighting by politicians:

1. Sowing confusion, division and doubt
2. Deflection of criticism
3. Shaming and use of dehumanizing language
4. Needing to be correct without listening to opposing views
5. Unwillingness to take responsibility for their own actions

Controversy

Although gaslighting as an abuse tactic is not questioned by anyone except extreme sociopaths and narcissists, it is true that some people claiming gaslighting may not be experiencing gaslighting. Theoretically, they may instead by experiencing a real delusion not induced by an abuser. At the same time, some prominent anti-psychiatrists such as David Cooper claim all serious cases of non-drug-induced persistent delusions are caused by interpersonal abuse or neglect, particularly from authority figures such as parents.

It is possible to gaslight someone experiencing delusions, as making a person feel out of touch with reality is not going to stabilize them, and is just going to make them more delusional. And that is obviously not healthy. Someone may have a delusion that a gaslighter may utilize to make the person have more delusions. Arguably it may be useful to have someone delusional instead merely recognize their delusions instead of making them feel more delusional, so as to work them out of their delusions, a principle of CBT talk therapy.

Because the term has made it into public consciousness but people don't always take the time to look up the definition of a word and instead just pick it up from context, it is becoming common for online users to label as "gaslighting" any form of lying or deception. While gaslighting does include those things, it's much more specific than that.

Gallery

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  The 1944 film poster

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  Ingrid Bergman (as Paula) looks paranoid while Charles Boyer (as her husband) conspires with the maid behind her back

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  The final confrontation between Paula and her husband

See also

• Anti-psychiatry