The dangerous effects of gaslighting 

Gaslighting doesn’t just affect children as they are growing up.  When the highly reliable, intuitive method of detecting abuse, neglect, gaslighting, exploitation and other forms of danger has been damaged or forced offline by gaslighting, people are more likely to experience repeated abuse, neglect, gaslighting, exploitation and other forms of victimization across their lifespans.  Indeed, 51% of people abused as children reported domestic abuse later in their lives.  And, if they experienced multiple forms of abuse in childhood (i.e., emotional, physical, sexual and the witnessing of domestic abuse), the rate of domestic abuse later in life rises to 77% (Office for National Statistics, 2017).  77 percent!  

Through gaslighting, these individuals are conditioned to believe that experiencing abuse and neglect is perfectly normal and acceptable, and the real problem is theirresponse to this treatment.  So, when they find themselves in new relationships or interactions with people who abuse and neglect them, they see these experiences as completely normal and acceptable, and themselves as the problem, beliefs that are further reinforced by additional gaslighting by the new perpetrator.  As a result, they remain trapped in a cycle of abuse and neglect.