GASLIGHTING: What It Is and How to Know It’s Happening to You

“Gaslighting” is more than just a trendy buzzword.

The concept has been around for decades. And mental health experts say it’s a psychological phenomenon that can have serious emotional implications and even destroy relationships.

Awareness of what it is and when it’s happening is really important, says Barbara Shabazz, PsyD, a Virginia Beach, Virginia–based clinical psychologist and owner of Intentional Activities, a motivational counseling private practice. “Gaslighting is finally getting the much-needed attention that it deserves in terms of awareness as a legitimate form of abuse that can lead to severe mental health concerns.”

Though psychologists and other mental health professionals are now studying and talking about the term in academic and clinical settings, researchers have acknowledged that the word itself comes from the 1938 play titled Gas Light, which in 1944 was made into the British film Gaslight, about a husband who attempts to make his wife go crazy by insisting she is hallucinating and imagining things. FOR MORE

This article was suggest by Va Boyle, PhD