Gaslighting

{{Short description|Type of psychological manipulation}} {{about|human behavior|illumination derived from burning gas|gas lighting|other uses|gaslight (disambiguation)}} {{pp-protected|small=yes}} {{use dmy dates|date=April 2021}} [[File:20241116 "Gaslighting" (topic) on Google Trends.svg |thumb|Google Trends topic searches for "Gaslighting" began a substantial increase in 2016.<ref name=Gaslighting_GoogleTrends>{{cite web |title=Gaslighting / topic |url=https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F07h4c7&hl=en |website=Google Trends |date=16 November 2024 |quote=Worldwide / 2004 - present / All categories / Web Search }}</ref>]]

'''Gaslighting''' is the manipulation of someone into questioning their perception of reality.<ref name="APA">{{cite web |title=APA Dictionary of Psychology |url=https://dictionary.apa.org/gaslight |website=APA.org |publisher=American Psychological Association |access-date=7 July 2021 |archive-date=9 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709185323/https://dictionary.apa.org/gaslight |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="MerriamWebster">{{cite web |title=Definition of gaslight (Entry 2 of 2) |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gaslight |work=Merriam Webster |access-date=7 July 2021 |archive-date=9 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709185759/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gaslight |url-status=live }}</ref> The term derives from the 1944 film ''Gaslight'' and became popular in the mid-2010s.<ref name="Yagoda" />

Some mental health experts have expressed concern that the term has been used too broadly. In 2022, ''The Washington Post'' described it as an example of therapy speak, arguing it had become a buzzword improperly used to describe ordinary disagreements.<ref name="Haupt 2022" />

== Etymology == [[File:Gaslight promo still.jpg|thumb|Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, and Joseph Cotten in the 1944 American film version of ''Gaslight'']]

The term derives from the title of the 1944 film ''Gaslight''.<ref name="Oxford English Dictionary">{{cite web |title=Gaslight |url=https://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/255554 |website=Oxford English Dictionary |access-date=25 October 2021 |quote=Etymology: from the title of George Cukor's 1944 film Gaslight |archive-date=19 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019092326/https://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/255554 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="NYT">{{cite news |last1=Hoberman |first1=J |title=Why 'Gaslight' Hasn't Lost Its Glow |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/21/arts/gaslight-movie-afterlife.html |website=The New York Times |date=21 August 2019 |access-date=23 August 2019 |quote=The verb 'to gaslight,' voted by the American Dialect Society in 2016 as the word most useful/likely to succeed, and defined as “to psychologically manipulate a person into questioning their own sanity,” derives from MGM’s 1944 movie, directed by George Cukor. |archive-date=22 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190822014242/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/21/arts/gaslight-movie-afterlife.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Wilkinson">{{cite web |last1=Wilkinson |first1=Alissa |title=What is gaslighting? The 1944 film Gaslight is the best explainer. |url=https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/1/21/14315372/what-is-gaslighting-gaslight-movie-ingrid-bergman |website=Vox |date=21 January 2017 |access-date=21 January 2017 |quote=to understand gaslighting is to go to the source. George Cukor’s Gaslight. The term 'gaslighting' comes from the movie. |archive-date=23 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170123035333/http://www.vox.com/culture/2017/1/21/14315372/what-is-gaslighting-gaslight-movie-ingrid-bergman |url-status=live }}</ref> The film was based on the 1938 British play ''Gas Light'' by Patrick Hamilton and was a remake of the 1940 British film adaptation, ''Gaslight''. Set among London's elite during the Victorian era, ''Gas Light'' and its adaptations portray a seemingly genteel husband using lies and manipulation to isolate his heiress wife and persuade her that she is mentally ill so that he can steal from her.<ref name="Thomas">{{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=Laura |title=Gaslight and gaslighting |url=https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(18)30024-5/fulltext#%20 |journal=The Lancet. Psychiatry |date=2018 |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=117–118 |doi=10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30024-5 |pmid=29413137 |access-date=1 February 2018 |archive-date=17 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221117174823/https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(18)30024-5/fulltext#%20 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The wife is perturbed when the gaslights in the house periodically dim, as they normally would if a lamp were lit elsewhere in the house, causing the gas pressure to drop; when she asks the servants, they tell her that nobody else is in the house. Unknown to all of them is that the husband is upstairs searching the rooms for jewels.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Sweet |first=Paige L. |title=How Gaslighting Manipulates Reality |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-gaslighting-manipulates-reality/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220915134534/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-gaslighting-manipulates-reality/ |archive-date=15 September 2022 |access-date=30 May 2022 |website=Scientific American}}</ref>

The gerund form ''gaslighting'' does not appear in the play or films.<ref name=":5" /> Its earliest recorded use was in 1961.<ref name="Oxford English Dictionary"/> In ''The New York Times'', it was first used in a 1995 column by Maureen Dowd.<ref name="Yagoda">{{cite web |last=Yagoda |first=Ben |author-link=Ben Yagoda |date=12 January 2017 |title=How Old Is 'Gaslighting'? |url=http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2017/01/12/how-old-is-gaslight/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801053815/https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2017/01/12/how-old-is-gaslight/ |archive-date=1 August 2019 |access-date=2 June 2017 |website=The Chronicle of Higher Education}}</ref> According to the American Psychological Association in 2021, gaslighting "once referred to manipulation so extreme as to induce mental illness or to justify commitment of the gaslighted person to a psychiatric institution".<ref name="APA" /> It remained obscure — ''The New York Times'' used it only nine times in the following 20 years — until the 2010s, when it seeped into the English lexicon.<ref name="Yagoda" /> Merriam-Webster defines ''gaslighting'' as "psychological manipulation" to make someone question their "perception of reality" leading to "dependence on the perpetrator".<ref name=MerriamWebster/> The American Dialect Society named ''gaslight'' the most useful new word of 2016.<ref name="ADS">{{cite news |last1=Metcalf |first1=Allan |title=2016 Word of the Year |url=https://www.americandialect.org/wp-content/uploads/2016-Word-of-the-Year-PRESS-RELEASE.pdf |access-date=6 January 2017 |publisher=American Dialect Society |quote=most useful word of the year |archive-date=3 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303212451/http://www.americandialect.org/wp-content/uploads/2016-Word-of-the-Year-PRESS-RELEASE.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Oxford University Press named it a runner-up in its list of the most popular new words of 2018.<ref name="Oxford">{{cite news |title=Word of the Year 2018: Shortlist |url=https://languages.oup.com/word-of-the-year/2018-shortlist/ |access-date=15 November 2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |archive-date=20 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191220194609/https://languages.oup.com/word-of-the-year/2018-shortlist/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

== In self-help and amateur psychology == ''Gaslighting'' is a term used in self-help and amateur psychology to describe a dynamic that can occur in personal relationships (romantic or parental) and in workplace relationships.<ref>{{cite thesis |type=EdD |last=Portnow |first=Kathryn E. |date=1996 |title=Dialogues of doubt: the psychology of self-doubt and emotional gaslighting in adult women and men |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=Harvard Graduate School of Education |oclc=36674740 |id={{ProQuest|619244657}}}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |title=Gaslighting at Work—and What to Do About It |url=https://hbr.org/podcast/2021/12/gaslighting-at-work-and-what-to-do-about-it |journal=Harvard Business Review |date=2021 |access-date=14 December 2021 |archive-date=14 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214144226/https://hbr.org/podcast/2021/12/gaslighting-at-work-and-what-to-do-about-it |url-status=live }}</ref> Gaslighting involves two parties: the "gaslighter", who persistently puts forth a false narrative in order to manipulate, and the "gaslighted", who struggles to maintain their individual autonomy.<ref name="NBC">{{cite web |last1=DiGiulio |first1=Sarah |title=What is gaslighting? And how do you know if it's happening to you? |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/what-gaslighting-how-do-you-know-if-it-s-happening-ncna890866 |website=NBC News |date=13 July 2018 |access-date=13 July 2018 |archive-date=31 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211231003612/https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/what-gaslighting-how-do-you-know-if-it-s-happening-ncna890866 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Sarkis">{{cite book |last=Sarkis |first=Stephanie |title=Gaslighting: Recognize Manipulative and Emotionally Abusive People – and Break Free |date=2018 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-7382-8466-8 |oclc=1023486127}}</ref> Gaslighting is typically effective only when there is an unequal power dynamic or when the gaslighted has shown respect to the gaslighter.<ref name="Vox">{{cite web |last1=Stern PhD |first1=Robin |title=I've counseled hundreds of victims of gaslighting. Here's how to spot if you're being gaslighted. Gaslighting, explained. |url=https://www.vox.com/first-person/2018/12/19/18140830/gaslighting-relationships-politics-explained |website=Vox |date=19 December 2018 |access-date=3 January 2019 |archive-date=26 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226192508/https://www.vox.com/first-person/2018/12/19/18140830/gaslighting-relationships-politics-explained |url-status=live }}</ref>

Gaslighting is different from genuine relationship disagreement, which is both common and important in relationships. Gaslighting is distinct in that: * one partner is consistently listening and considering the other partner's perspective; * one partner is consistently negating the other's perception, insisting that they are wrong, or telling them that their emotional reaction is irrational or dysfunctional. The term gaslighting is more often used to refer to a pattern of behavior over a long duration, not a one-off instance of persuasion, but the method(s) of persuasion is the defining trait of gaslighting behavior.<ref name="Haupt 2022">{{cite news |last1=Haupt |first1=Angela |title=How to recognize gaslighting and respond to it |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/04/15/gaslighting-definition-relationship-abuse-response/ |access-date=21 April 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=15 April 2022 |archive-date=24 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424081259/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/04/15/gaslighting-definition-relationship-abuse-response/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Over time, the listening partner may exhibit symptoms often associated with anxiety disorders, depression, or low self-esteem. Gaslighting is distinct from genuine relationship conflict in that one party manipulates the perceptions of the other.<ref name="Vox" />

=== Broader use and conflation === In 2022, ''Merriam-Webster'' named "gaslighting" its Word of the Year due to the vast increase in channels and technologies used to mislead and the word becoming common for the perception of deception.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Word of the Year 2022 |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/word-of-the-year |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221128235416/https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/word-of-the-year |archive-date=28 November 2022 |access-date=29 November 2022 |website=www.merriam-webster.com}}</ref> The word is often used incorrectly to refer to conflicts and disagreements.<ref name="Haupt 2022" /><ref name="Holland" /><ref name="Ellen">{{cite web |last1=Ellen |first1=Barbara |title=In accusing all creeps of gaslighting, we dishonour the real victims |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/06/gaslighting-gone-mainstream-but-we-shouldnt-overuse-the-term |website=The Guardian |date=6 July 2019 |access-date=6 July 2019 |archive-date=6 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706172246/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/06/gaslighting-gone-mainstream-but-we-shouldnt-overuse-the-term |url-status=live }}</ref> According to Robin Stern, PhD, co-founder of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, "Gaslighting is often used in an accusatory way when somebody may just be insistent on something, or somebody may be trying to influence you. That's not what gaslighting is."<ref name="Holland" />

Some mental health experts have expressed concern that the broader use of the term is diluting its usefulness and may make it more difficult to identify the specific type of abuse described in the original definition.<ref name="Oxford" /><ref name="Haupt 2022" /><ref name="Ellen" /> According to a 2022 ''Washington Post'' report, it had become a "trendy buzzword" frequently improperly used to describe ordinary disagreements, rather than those situations that align with the word's historical definition.<ref name="Haupt 2022" />

== In psychiatry and psychology == The word gaslighting is occasionally used in clinical literature, but is considered a colloquialism by the American Psychological Association.<ref name="APA" /><ref name="Holland">{{cite web |last1=Holland |first1=Brenna |title=For Those Who Experience Gaslighting, the Widespread Misuse of the Word Is Damaging |url=https://www.wellandgood.com/misuse-gaslighting/ |website=Well + Good |date=2 September 2021 |access-date=2 September 2021 |archive-date=2 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902165614/https://www.wellandgood.com/misuse-gaslighting/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Barton and Whitehead described three case reports of gaslighting with the goal of securing a person's involuntary commitment to a psychiatric hospital, motivated by a desire to get rid of relatives or obtain financial gain: a wife attempting to frame her husband as violent so she could elope with her lover, another wife alleging that her pub-owning husband was an alcoholic in order to leave him and take control of the pub, and a retirement home manager who gave laxatives to a resident before referring her to a psychiatric hospital for dementia and incontinence.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Barton |first1=Russell |last2=Whitehead |first2=J. A. |date=21 June 1969 |title=The gas-light phenomenon |url=https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(69)92133-3/fulltext |journal=The Lancet |volume=293 |issue=7608 |pages=1258–1260 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(69)92133-3 |pmid=4182427 |issn=0140-6736 |access-date=28 February 2023 |archive-date=28 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228033426/https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(69)92133-3/fulltext |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":0" />

In 1977, at a time when published literature on gaslighting was still sparse, Lund and Gardiner published a case report on an elderly woman who was repeatedly involuntarily committed for alleged psychosis, by staffers of her retirement home, but whose symptoms always disappeared shortly after admittance without any treatment. After investigation, it was discovered that her 'paranoia' had been the result of gaslighting by staffers of the retirement home, who knew the woman had suffered from paranoid psychosis 15 years prior.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Lund |first1=C. A. |last2=Gardiner |first2=A .Q. |date=1977 |title=The Gaslight Phenomenon: An Institutional Variant |journal=British Journal of Psychiatry |volume=131 |issue=5 |pages=533–34 |doi=10.1192/bjp.131.5.533 |pmid=588872 |s2cid=33671694}} {{closed access}}</ref>

The research paper "Gaslighting: A Marital Syndrome" includes clinical observations of the impact on wives after their reactions were mislabeled by their husbands and male therapists.<ref name="Gass">{{cite journal |last1=Gass PhD |first1=Gertrude Zemon |last2=Nichols EdD |first2=William C. |date=18 March 1988 |title=Gaslighting: A marital syndrome |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00922429 |journal=Contemp Family Therapy |volume=8 |pages=3–16 |doi=10.1007/BF00922429 |s2cid=145019324 |access-date=24 August 2021 |archive-date=15 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211015202640/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00922429 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Other experts have noted values and techniques of therapists can be harmful as well as helpful to clients (or indirectly to other people in a client's life).<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |title=Special section on negative effects from psychological treatments |date=January 2010 |journal=American Psychologist |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=13–49 |doi=10.1037/a0015643 |pmid=20063906 |last1=Barlow |first1=D. H.}}</ref><ref name="Dorpat1996" /><ref name=":2">{{cite journal |last=Basseches |first=Michael |date=April 1997 |title=A developmental perspective on psychotherapy process, psychotherapists' expertise, and 'meaning-making conflict' within therapeutic relationships: part II |journal=Journal of Adult Development |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=85–106 |doi=10.1007/BF02510083|s2cid=143991100}} Basseches coined the term "theoretical abuse" as a parallel to "sexual abuse" in psychotherapy.</ref>

In his 1996 book, ''Gaslighting, the Double Whammy, Interrogation and Other Methods of Covert Control in Psychotherapy and Analysis'', Theo L. Dorpat recommends non-directive and egalitarian attitudes and methods on the part of clinicians,<ref name="Dorpat1996" />{{rp|225}} and "treating patients as active collaborators and equal partners".<ref name="Dorpat1996" />{{rp|246}} He writes, "Therapists may contribute to the victim's distress through mislabeling the [victim's] reactions.... The gaslighting behaviors of the spouse provide a recipe for the so-called 'nervous breakdown' for some [victims, and] suicide in some of the worst situations."<ref name="Dorpat1996">{{cite book |last=Dorpat |first=Theodore L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QxUCcfBJQfoC |title=Gaslighting, the Double Whammy, Interrogation, and Other Methods of Covert Control in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis |publisher=Jason Aronson |date=1996 |isbn=978-1-56821-828-1 |location=Northvale, New Jersey |oclc=34548677 |access-date=24 April 2021}}</ref> Dorpat also cautions clinicians about the unintentional abuse of patients when using interrogation and other methods of covert control in Psychotherapy and Analysis, as these methods can subtly coerce patients rather than respect and genuinely help them.<ref name="Dorpat1996" />{{rp|31–46}}

===Motivations=== Gaslighting is a way to control the moment, stop conflict, ease anxiety, and feel in control. It often deflects responsibility however and tears down the other person.<ref name="Vox" /> Some may gaslight their partners by denying events, including personal violence.<ref name="JacobsonGottman1998">{{cite book |last1=Jacobson |first1=Neil S. |last2=Gottman |first2=John M. |title=When Men Batter Women: New Insights into Ending Abusive Relationships |date=1998 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-684-81447-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/whenmenbatterwom00jaco |url-access=registration |access-date=6 January 2014 |pages =[https://archive.org/details/whenmenbatterwom00jaco/page/129 129]–132}}</ref> A study found that those who gaslight tended to score high on manipulative personality traits.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-023-00582-y | doi=10.1007/s10896-023-00582-y | title="It's All in Your Head": Personality Traits and Gaslighting Tactics in Intimate Relationships | date=2025 | last1=March | first1=Evita | last2=Kay | first2=Cameron S. | last3=Dinić | first3=Bojana M. | last4=Wagstaff | first4=Danielle | last5=Grabovac | first5=Beáta | last6=Jonason | first6=Peter K. | journal=Journal of Family Violence | volume=40 | issue=2 | pages=259–268 | hdl=11577/3508748 | hdl-access=free }}</ref>

===Learned behavior=== Gaslighting is a learned trait. A gaslighter is a student of social learning. They witness it, experience it themselves, or stumble upon it, and see that it works, both for self-regulation and coregulation.<ref name="Vox" /> Studies have shown that gaslighting is more prevalent in couples where one or both partners have maladaptive personality traits<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last1=Miano |first1=Paola |last2=Bellomare |first2=Martina |last3=Genova |first3=Vincenzo Giuseppe |date=2 September 2021 |title=Personality correlates of gaslighting behaviours in young adults |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13552600.2020.1850893 |journal=Journal of Sexual Aggression |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=285–298 |doi=10.1080/13552600.2020.1850893 |s2cid=234287319 |issn=1355-2600 |access-date=19 February 2022 |archive-date=13 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240313174515/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13552600.2020.1850893 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> (such as traits associated with short-term mental illness like depression), substance-induced illness (e.g., alcoholism), mood disorders (e.g., bipolar disorder), anxiety disorders (e.g., PTSD), personality disorder (e.g., BPD, NPD, etc.), neurodevelopmental disorder (e.g., ADHD), or combination of the above (''i.e.'', co-occurrence) and are prone to and adept at convincing others to doubt their own perceptions.<ref name="Stout2006">{{cite book |last=Stout |first=Martha |title=The Sociopath Next Door |date=14 March 2006 |publisher=Random House Digital |isbn=978-0-7679-1582-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PyOjlz_2SG0C&pg=PA94 |access-date=6 January 2014 |pages=94–95 |archive-date=13 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240313174522/https://books.google.com/books?id=PyOjlz_2SG0C&pg=PA94#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Habilitation=== It can be difficult to extricate oneself from a gaslighting power dynamic: * Those who gaslight must attain greater emotional awareness and self-regulation,<ref name="Vox" />{{Failed verification|date=August 2024}} or; * Those being gaslighted must learn that they do not need others to validate their reality, and they need to gain self-reliance and confidence in defining their own reality.<ref name=Nelson2001>{{cite book |last=Nelson |first=Hilde L. |title=Damaged identities, narrative repair |date=March 2001 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-8740-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EjL9qyGmJF4C&pg=PA31 |access-date=6 January 2014 |pages=31–32 |archive-date=13 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240313175214/https://books.google.com/books?id=EjL9qyGmJF4C&pg=PA31#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Vox" />

== In medicine == ''Medical gaslighting'' is an informal term that refers to patients having their real symptoms dismissed or downplayed by medical professionals, leading to incorrect or delayed diagnoses; women are more likely to be affected by the phenomenon.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Vargas |first1=Theresa |date=2 April 2022 |title=Women are sharing their 'medical gaslighting' stories. Now what? |newspaper=The Washington Post |place=Washington, D.C. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/04/02/women-medical-gaslighting-stories/ |access-date=5 October 2022 |issn=0190-8286 |oclc=1330888409 |archive-date=12 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812210726/https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/04/02/women-medical-gaslighting-stories/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

== In politics == Gaslighting is more likely to be effective when the gaslighter has a position of power.<ref name=":6">{{cite news |last=Simon |first=George |date=8 November 2011 |author-link=George K. Simon |url=https://counsellingresource.com/features/2011/11/08/gaslighting/ |title=Gaslighting as a Manipulation Tactic: What It Is, Who Does It, and Why |work=CounsellingResource.com: Psychology, Therapy & Mental Health Resources |access-date=13 April 2018 |archive-date=13 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240313175058/https://counsellingresource.com/features/2011/11/08/gaslighting/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the 2008 book ''State of Confusion: Political Manipulation and the Assault on the American Mind'', the authors contend that the prevalence of gaslighting in American politics began with the age of modern communications:<ref name="Welch">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/stateofconfusion00welc |url-access=registration |title=State of Confusion: Political Manipulation and the Assault on the American Mind |last=Welch |first=Bryant |date=2008 |location=New York |publisher=Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-312-37306-1 |oclc=181601311}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=To say gaslighting was started by... any extant group is not simply wrong, it also misses an important point. Gaslighting comes directly from blending modern communications, marketing, and advertising techniques with long-standing methods of propaganda. They were simply waiting to be discovered by those with sufficient ambition and psychological makeup to use them.}}

The term has been used to describe the behavior of politicians and media personalities on both the left and the right sides of the political spectrum.<ref name="Welch" /> Some examples include: * American journalists have used the word "gaslighting" to describe the actions of Donald Trump during the 2016 US presidential election and during both of his terms as president.<ref name=":7">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/10/opinions/donald-trump-is-gaslighting-america-ghitis/index.html |title=Donald Trump is 'gaslighting' all of us |last=Ghitis |first=Frida |work=CNN |access-date=16 February 2017 |archive-date=19 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419090309/https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/10/opinions/donald-trump-is-gaslighting-america-ghitis/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>* {{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-donald-trump-and-gaslighting/2017/01/27/b02e6de4-e330-11e6-ba11-63c4b4fb5a63_story.html |title=What we talk about when we talk about Donald Trump and 'gaslighting' |last=Gibson |first=Caitlin |date=27 January 2017 |newspaper=The Washington Post |issn=0190-8286 |access-date=29 January 2017 |archive-date=22 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022062923/https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-donald-trump-and-gaslighting/2017/01/27/b02e6de4-e330-11e6-ba11-63c4b4fb5a63_story.html |url-status=live }} * {{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/27/magazine/the-reverse-gaslighting-of-donald-trump.html |title=The Reverse-Gaslighting of Donald Trump |last=Dominus |first=Susan |date=27 September 2016 |access-date=23 January 2017 |newspaper=The New York Times Magazine |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414233604/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/27/magazine/the-reverse-gaslighting-of-donald-trump.html |url-status=live }} * {{cite news |url=http://www.teenvogue.com/story/donald-trump-is-gaslighting-america |title=Donald Trump Is Gaslighting America |last=Duca |first=Lauren |date=10 December 2016 |access-date=23 January 2017 |newspaper=Teen Vogue |archive-date=19 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419165750/https://www.teenvogue.com/story/donald-trump-is-gaslighting-america |url-status=live }} * {{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mental-health/some-experts-say-trump-team-s-falsehoods-are-classic-gaslighting-n711021 |title=Some Experts Say Trump Team's Falsehoods Are Classic 'Gaslighting' |last=Fox |first=Maggie |date=25 January 2017 |access-date=8 March 2017 |work=NBC News |archive-date=29 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210129091309/https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mental-health/some-experts-say-trump-team-s-falsehoods-are-classic-gaslighting-n711021 |url-status=live }} * {{cite news |last1=Sopel |first1=Jon |author1-link=Jon Sopel |title=From 'alternative facts' to rewriting history in Trump's White House |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44959300 |work=BBC News |date=25 July 2018 |access-date=26 July 2018 |archive-date=26 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180726012522/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44959300 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last= Cassidy|first= John|date= 24 February 2025|title= The White House Is Gaslighting Americans About Donald Trump's Tariffs|url= https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-financial-page/the-white-house-is-gaslighting-americans-about-donald-trumps-tariffs|magazine= The New Yorker|location= |publisher= |access-date=25 April 2025}}</ref>

* In 2025, Jake Tapper of CNN asked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz if Democrats had engaged in gaslighting during the 2024 US presidential election.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXhoFP0Mxc4 FULL: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Breaks Down Trump's Tariffs, Democrats' Future With CNN's Jake Tapper]</ref>

* "Gaslighting" has been used to describe state-implemented psychological harassment techniques used in East Germany during the 1970s and 1980s. The techniques were used as part of the Stasi's (the state security service's) decomposition methods, which were designed to paralyze the ability of hostile-negative (politically incorrect or rebellious) people to operate without unjustifiably imprisoning them, which would have resulted in international condemnation.<ref name=":10">{{cite book |last1=Constabile-Heming |first1=Carol Anne |title=Histories of Surveillance from Antiquity to the Digital Era: The Eyes and Ears of Power |last2=Glajar |first2=Valentina |last3=Lewis |first3=Alison |date=2021 |publisher=Routledge |editor1-last=Marklund |editor-first=Andreas |chapter=Citizen informants, glitches in the system, and the limits of collaboration: Eastern experiences in the cold war era |editor-last2=Skouvig |editor-first2=Laura}}</ref>

== In social systems == Gaslighting within social systems operates as a mechanism to uphold entrenched power hierarchies, often through subtle and overt forms of manipulation that compel individuals to question their perceptions of reality. One striking manifestation is racial gaslighting, a process deeply embedded within the political, economic, social, and cultural scaffolding of a dominant racial hierarchy. By pathologizing dissent and framing challenges to racial inequities as misperceptions or even assaults on democratic fairness, racial gaslighting coerces marginalized individuals into doubting their experiences within racialized structures.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Davis |first1=Angelique M. |last2=Ernst |first2=Rose |date=2019-10-02 |title=Racial gaslighting |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21565503.2017.1403934 |journal=Politics, Groups, and Identities |language=en |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=761–774 |doi=10.1080/21565503.2017.1403934 |issn=2156-5503 |quote=We define racial gaslighting as the political, social, economic and cultural process that perpetuates and normalizes a white supremacist reality through pathologizing those who resist. Just as racial formation rests on the creation of racial projects, racial gaslighting, as a process, relies on the production of particular narratives.|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Woody |first=Ashley |date=2023-11-22 |title=Racial Gaslighting in a Politically Progressive City |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/soin.12586 |journal=Sociological Inquiry |volume=95 |pages=66–84 |language=en |doi=10.1111/soin.12586 |issn=0038-0245 |quote=...pathologizing those who resist or question the racial status quo. Racial gaslighting emerges from structural forms of racism that cause racialized and multiply-marginalized people to question their perceptions of reality in a racialized society.|url-access=subscription }}</ref> This phenomenon extends beyond denial of systemic racism to active recharacterization, where the assertion of racial injustice is reframed as an act of reverse discrimination or irrational sensitivity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gillborn |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nh7_EAAAQBAJ |title=White Lies: Racism, Education and Critical Race Theory |date=2024-06-03 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-040-03187-2 |language=en |quote=In many cases, racial gaslighting is simple and crude, with white people informing their minoritized peers that they have simply misunderstood or imagined an offence. Often, the gaslighting goes beyond mere denial and moves into the realms of accusation, as if the protest is actually an assault on democracy and fairness, even that it is racist (against white people).}}</ref>

== In the workplace == In her 2024 book ''On Gaslighting'', Indiana University philosopher Kate Abramson offers the example of a boss who minimizes a complaint of harassment or discrimination, possibly filed by a member of a marginalized group.<ref name="n298">{{cite web |last=Stewart |first=Dodai |date=2024-03-16 |title=Book Review: 'On Gaslighting,' by Kate Abramson |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/16/books/review/kate-abramson-on-gaslighting.html |access-date=2024-12-02 |website=The New York Times}}</ref> In her framing, the gaslighter says "''Don’t be so sensitive. You’re overreacting. You’re imagining things".''

== See also ==  * Big lie: gross distortion or misrepresentation of the truth being presented as a fact * Confidence trick: using trust to defraud * DARVO: acronym for "deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender" * Deception: intentionally using false statements to mislead * {{annotated link|Experiment Perilous|''Experiment Perilous'' (1944 film)}} * Manipulation: exploiting for personal gain * Martha Mitchell effect: labeling real experiences as delusional

== References == {{reflist}}

Category:Deception Category:Psychological abuse Category:Psychological manipulation Category:Psychotherapy Category:2010s slang Category:2020s slang