Gaslighting is a term whose origin is from the play, and later film, of that name. The suspenseful thriller depicts a newly wedded woman losing her sanity at the hands of her husband, who manipulates her with strange activity in the home--footsteps in the night, objects misplaced and moved, and gaslights that dim and brighten, all the while convincing her that these are in her imagination and are not really occurring. She comes to question her perceptions and believes her husband's version of reality.
According to goodtherapy.org, an individual may gaslight another by:
Research shows that the result of questioning and negating someone's experience of trauma can amplify and heighten the experience of trauma and its after effects. One treatment protocol for survivors of abuse states: "discrediting or invalidating the experience of the abuse... may be perceived as abusive in itself." When institutions like courts or colleges, protect a perpetrator of sexual assault, rather than the survivor, this extends the traumatic experience. This mirrors our national story which protects the perpetrator of racial violence from having to accept responsibility or really grasp how much its success has depended on our abuse.
Additionally, those who are convinced that their behavior is not abusive, have little motivation to change it. Those in our society who have been marginalized, exploited, and dehumanized are stuck in an abusive relationship with our dominant culture and institutions that avoid talking about our history, omit significant events and people in our text books, and report the daily news in an ahistorical vacuum that overlooks the causes and conditions that led to our current events. Just as many veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan avoid seeking help due to "an invalidating culture," we can expect that our fellow Americans whose ancestors suffered under slavery or genocide and forced assimilation, would hesitate to get counseling services in a culture whose mainstream narrative diminishes the role of history in the present and does its best to minimize the horror we have inflicted. When we buy into the historical narratives we are fed--from Columbus Day and Thanksgiving to the myths of happy slaves and that racism ended with the Civil Rights Movement (see: Black Codes, The New Jim Crow)--we are not helping our clients to heal.
According to goodtherapy.org, an individual may gaslight another by:
- Refusing to listen to any concerns or pretending not to understand them.
- Questioning his or her memory, denying that events occurred in the way the victim (accurately) remembers.
- Changing the subject to divert the victim’s attention from a topic, trivializing their concerns.
- Pretending to forget things that have happened to further discredit the victim.
- Denying events have taken place, claiming that the victim is making them up
Research shows that the result of questioning and negating someone's experience of trauma can amplify and heighten the experience of trauma and its after effects. One treatment protocol for survivors of abuse states: "discrediting or invalidating the experience of the abuse... may be perceived as abusive in itself." When institutions like courts or colleges, protect a perpetrator of sexual assault, rather than the survivor, this extends the traumatic experience. This mirrors our national story which protects the perpetrator of racial violence from having to accept responsibility or really grasp how much its success has depended on our abuse.
Additionally, those who are convinced that their behavior is not abusive, have little motivation to change it. Those in our society who have been marginalized, exploited, and dehumanized are stuck in an abusive relationship with our dominant culture and institutions that avoid talking about our history, omit significant events and people in our text books, and report the daily news in an ahistorical vacuum that overlooks the causes and conditions that led to our current events. Just as many veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan avoid seeking help due to "an invalidating culture," we can expect that our fellow Americans whose ancestors suffered under slavery or genocide and forced assimilation, would hesitate to get counseling services in a culture whose mainstream narrative diminishes the role of history in the present and does its best to minimize the horror we have inflicted. When we buy into the historical narratives we are fed--from Columbus Day and Thanksgiving to the myths of happy slaves and that racism ended with the Civil Rights Movement (see: Black Codes, The New Jim Crow)--we are not helping our clients to heal.
References
Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Substance Abuse Treatment for Persons with Child Abuse and Neglect Issues. (2000). In Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series. Chapter 3. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64896/
Cukor, G. (Director). (1944). Gaslight [Motion Picture]. United States: MGM.
D’ Ardenne, P., & Heke, S. (2014). Patient-reported outcomes in post-traumatic stress disorder Part I: Focus on psychological treatment. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 16(2), 213–226.
Gaslighting. (2015, August). Good Therapy. Retrieved from http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/gaslighting
Liem, R. (2007). "Silencing Historical Trauma: The Politics and Psychology of Memory and Voice." Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology. 13(2), 153-174.
Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Substance Abuse Treatment for Persons with Child Abuse and Neglect Issues. (2000). In Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series. Chapter 3. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64896/
Cukor, G. (Director). (1944). Gaslight [Motion Picture]. United States: MGM.
D’ Ardenne, P., & Heke, S. (2014). Patient-reported outcomes in post-traumatic stress disorder Part I: Focus on psychological treatment. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 16(2), 213–226.
Gaslighting. (2015, August). Good Therapy. Retrieved from http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/gaslighting
Liem, R. (2007). "Silencing Historical Trauma: The Politics and Psychology of Memory and Voice." Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology. 13(2), 153-174.