Gaslighting is a term we’ve all come to use in our daily conversations with people and it has become all the more prevalent as people understand the term much more.
Where the term Gaslighting came from
So, the term Gaslighting first came to prominence in a 1940s film called Gaslight. The play centered on a man manipulating his new wife into believing that she is losing her mind. When she talks to him about the gaslight dimming in the house.
Little did she know, her husband was actually the one who was manipulating his wife by causing the different shadows within the home and claiming that he cannot see it.
Today, Gaslighting has come all the more prevalent as the Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes the word as the best way to describe “the perception of deception”.
Thus far, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary makes its choice of the word of the year based on statistics. According to the stats, the searches for the word increased significantly this year by 1, 704%.
In a press release, the Editor for the Merriam-Webster Dictionary shared that “In our age of misinformation – “fake news,” conspiracy theories, Twitter trolls, and deepfakes – gaslighting has emerged as a word for our time.”
An official description for the word Gaslighting, Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes it as a “psychological manipulation of a person” – which can cause that person “to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one’s emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator.”
Ultimately, Gaslighting is a means of making someone believe what you want them to believe. This is often done with malicious intent. As one can imagine, Gaslighting someone can lead to a variety of mental health issues and cause serious self-esteem issues.
Signs you’re being gaslit
- You often apologize for something you feel you have done wrong
- You start to question if you’re too sensitive
- You start to question your reality and whether you’re able to trust your memory
- You become increasingly insecure
- You feel confused
- You question whether you’re able to make good judgments and decisions
Source: USA Today
