'Oh come on. I never said that.'
'You’re just being overly sensitive.'
'I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal out of this…'
Psychologists use the term 'gaslighting' to refer to a specific type of manipulation where the manipulator tries to get someone else [or a group of people] to question their own reality, memory or perceptions. And it’s always a serious problem because, according to psychologists, it always occurs in a relationship in which there is a power imbalance.
Download this infographic here

​
Download this infographic here

​

WHY IS THIS FORM OF ABUSE
​CALLED GASLIGHTING?

Picture
The term originates from the 1938 play Gas Light by Patrick Hamilton which led to two film adaptations [1940 and 1944] about a woman whose husband slowly manipulates her into believing that she is going insane.

​The more famous of these movies, the 1944 version, starred Ingrid Bergman [who won an Oscar for her performance in this film], Charles Boyer, and Joseph Cotten and was directed by George Cukor. ​