Instincts

Gaslighting Guide: What it is, how to respond, how it damages intuition and methods for intuition repair

Gaslighting Guide: What it is, how to respond, how it damages intuition and methods for intuition repair

Today, we are going to highlight the phenomenon of gaslighting specifically because it is particularly deleterious and present in all forms of abuse (emotional, physical and sexual).  The name comes from a 1938 British play (later made into a film) called, Gas Light, involving a husband using the characteristic tactics we will discuss against his wife (Wikipedia-Gas Light, 1938).  Gaslighting is a form of emotional abuse that occurs when a perpetrator causes their victim to doubt their sanity and experience of reality by implicitly or explicitly conveying that:

  1. their experiences aren’t real;

  2. their feelings are wrong;

  3. their memory of events is incorrect;

  4. they don’t know what they need or want, but the perpetrator does;

  5. they aren’t who they think they are;

  6. the perpetrator’s behavior is somehow the victim’s fault;

  7. nothing is wrong, even though something seems wrong;

  8. it is okay or normal for terrible things to happen like emotional, physical or sexual abuse;

  9. the perpetrator’s objectionable behaviors or personality characteristics are actually the victim’s (called projection).