Gaslighting is a form of
psychological manipulation in which a person or a group covertly sows seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group, making them question their own memory, perception, or judgement.
[1] It may evoke changes in them such as
cognitive dissonance or low
self-esteem, rendering the victim additionally dependent on the gaslighter for emotional support and validation. Using
denial, misdirection, contradiction and
disinformation,
[2] gaslighting involves attempts to
destabilize the victim and delegitimize the victim's beliefs.
Instances can range from the denial by an
abuser that previous abusive incidents occurred, to belittling the victim's emotions and feelings, to the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim. The goal of gaslighting is to gradually undermine the victim's confidence in their own ability to distinguish truth from falsehood, right from wrong, or reality from delusion, thereby rendering the individual or group pathologically dependent on the gaslighter for their thinking and feelings.
The term originated from the British play
Gas Light (1938), performed as
Angel Street in the United States, and its
1940 and
1944 film adaptations (both titled
Gaslight). The term has now been used in clinical psychological literature,
[3][4] as well as in political commentary and philosophy.
[5]