I had a previous partner try to convince me I had early onset Alzheimer’s as part of their gaslighting of me and then became angry when I started carrying moleskin notebooks to note down our conversations in as a means of verification. He went so far as to tare pages out of my notebooks and then claim I had done it. The degree of lasting harm this type of this type of phycological abuse causes cannot be understated and those that engage in it must be avoided at all costs.
I'm obviously very sorry you were in that situation but his line of thinking is so flawed it's actually sort of funny..? "you have the disease that makes you forget!" "okay, I'll carry around notebooks and try to remember more often.." "excuse me how dare you react to having the forgetting disease by trying to remember???"
I feel your pain and I can relate to what you've gone through. As a survivor, do you have any suggestions for someone who is just now starting to realize what has been going on?
@@blagosphere9000 I realize you're not asking me, but my advice would be to run. Go no contact if you can. If you can't, stay alert. As you learn more and more what to look for, you can begin to see them coming from a mile away, and the better you'll become at letting their toxity just bounce off you while you laugh at their childish temper tantrums. Also, do everything you can to avoid giving them fuel. Anything they learn about you is fair game to turn around and weaponize against you, so the fewer details you can share with them, the better. It is a hard road to travel, but at the end of it you'll be amazed at how free you feel. It's definitely worth the struggle to get out of their clutches. Good luck!! 🤗
Been there and got diagnosed as having Alzheimer’s by my now ex. Luckily, I’m a logician and, once I saw a pattern, did some research, finding the term gaslighting. After that, he had some spectacular rows whenever I refused to accept his version of reality; I say “he” because he went incandescent and argued with himself. Anyway, every abuser uses the same playbook. I’d recommend everyone else reads “Why Does He Do That” by Lundy Bancroft.
The comma at the end is messing with me. I feel like someone has removed half the sentence, but that can't be right... right? Narcissist's wouldn't do that, removing half a sentence!?
I had a family member gaslight me so badly for so long (almost 20 years by the end) that i questioned if i was having memory issues or even dementia. I went to a neuropsychologist for assessment (with the gaslighter coming along to "point out the gaps"). Eventually broke away and started therapy and other testing. turns out i don't have any worse of a memory than anyone else - and i only had "memory issues" with the gaslighter. funny thing that.... it's incredibly insidious and disturbing to experience. I started taking notes of all conversations. This was actually something they encouraged for work. pretty sure they didn't want me to do it with them, but i did. it was very eye opening. they would say something hadn't happened or they hadn't said something, or I had or hadn't said something...and i'd look back in my notes and...yep, there it was. i'm a very logical, analytical, well-educated person and i was convinced i had some kind of brain damage because of that person. It can happen to anyone. thankfully they live very, very far away from me and no longer have my phone number.
Remember when Santa's Little Helper ate my goldfish and you lied and said I never had a goldfish? Then why did I have the bowl, Bart? Why did I have the bowl?
There never was a goldfish, i always found it weird you dragged that bowl everywhere. i didnt want to ask, as i thought you felt safe with it, like a emotional support bowl💀 it fits your unique unhinged style you know i love !
My now Ex used to do this to me. She would fly into fits of rage and shout and threaten me with violence, One they had calmed down they would then claim that it was me that did all the anger and it was completely unprovoked, meanwhile they hadn't done a thing. I honestly believe I had ended up being married to a person with a personality disorder. Even now they show no remorse for their actions and never had done, so I'm convinced that they are also a psychopath. The divorce was a nightmare; they waited until I was out the house for a couple of weeks then got a solicitor to send me a letter stating I was a threat to them and it also said that if I went back to the house they would call the police on me. They lied on the divorce petition with such crazy accusations that my solicitor was convinced that the judge would reject the petition, but they could see pretty quickly that I needed to get out of this abusive relationship. It took 1 year and 8 months to get the divorce completed as my ex wouldn't stop lying to the solicitor. Anyhow I'm out of it now. I was probably heading for an early death with all the stress I had to endure on a daily basis.
Not feeling guilty about their abuse doesn't make him a psychopath but a narcist. My mother is 1 of those, and she still doesn't understand why I distrust her so much. She thinks her only sin is not giving me a bigger house growing up. I can't trust a word she says because she will say something completely contradictory days later and refuse to admit anything different. That's how I recognized the gaslighting and distanced myself from her. She's my mother, so I can't completely cut her off. I'm lucky I have the self-confidence to recognize when someone is contradicting themselves and am stubborn enough to believe in my own memories. That's how I recognize gaslighting now. Trust your instincts. If you think they said something different earlier, but they are adamant they didn't, believe yourself. Your instincts are never wrong.
It's an overused term today, but my ex is a true sociopathic narcissistic. After we split up I had to essentially deprogram myself like someone leaving a cult. I was convinced black was white and up was down purely because that fit her reality as explained to me. Eventually it gets to the point when they don't have to lie or come up with an excuse. You, by default, come up with one for them in which they did nothing wrong and you probably just don't remember it correctly. Like most others with her personality she was a master at claiming victimhood while attacking and trying to destroy anyone that didn't go along with her. Nothing was ever her fault. Anything that went wrong with either someone else's fault, or an outcome that couldn't have been seen and the result of outside influences. A mutual friend from that time describes it like watching a vampire. She finds people to control. (Those that called her out on her BS too early are quickly banished.) Then drains them of whatever they have that is useful for her. When done, they are discarded. Usually with accusations of doing something bad enough for others to cut contact with them. Rinse, repeat. Move on to the next victims.
G'day, There there, commiserations indeed. I too married a PsychoCeramic (Cracked Pot), I stayed there for 7 years, and then the Custody Case lasted 9 years...; on my 14th wedding anniversary I learned that both my two stepsons were in separate Psychiatric institutions...., in the final spasm of LegalEagleBeagle&Briefcase, my wife (not yet divorced - because that would mean her agreeing to sign something I had also signed...!) lost 4 Cases in 4 Jurisdictions in 4 calendar weeks... My children thus finally were rescued from my own exceedingly bad taste in Partners (Acquired Shit-Magnet Effect!) ; but a fortnight later my eldest stepson succumbed to the toxicity of his childhood, and passed away before turning 21... When I recognised how I had come to develop such foul taste in Partners, I resolved to remain happily single, and to not inflict Daddy's latest Girlfriend Fantasy onto my children...; and thus my two kids grew up to be happy and functional... The trick is to recognise when one's partners are becoming sequentially worse, and stop there ; without proceeding to the next bad choice...(!). In my experience. And, beware of the Principle of Equal Damage... One is generally attractive to someone who has been equally emotionally damaged, in their own previous experiences - it's what makes the couple relatable to each other..., apparently. Such is life, Live a good one..... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !
Why do you use the pronoun they, when you talk about a certain woman? I can see the point of using THEY when you mean he or she. But in this case, it seems strange. It's an honest question from an English teacher in Germany.
I came out of an incredibly abusive relationship a year ago. Telling my family was so hard, but it turns out they knew. He gaslit me into thinking I was stupid, unattractive, fat and that I should be grateful for his attention. He bullied me in every way possible and used my disability against me. He made me think I had hearing problems and early onset dementia
@@mb-3faze thanks! I've fallen into a brilliant relationship with the best guy ever who constantly makes me feel good about myself and tells me how much he loves me. He understands I've ptsd and does everything he can to not set it off. He's the best
There's another way to protect yourself from gaslighters, and that is to journal your conversation. Always journal about what those gaslighters said immediately, or as quickly as possible. That way, if the gaslighter were to say, "I'll take you to the movie" only for him to say, "I never agreed on taking you to a movie" then the gaslighting becomes less effective. Of course, journaling won't hold them accountable, but it can help you stay sane.
I started doing that with my narc mom in high school. I would immediately write down everything she said. Of course then she would deny ever having said it. I eventually went no contact with her.
Absolutely! Put more effort into making it obvious so everyone else can see what YOU see. It may take time to do this, but it's a good way to break down their argument. Journaling/jotting down the strange behaviors you've noticed is probably one of the first steps into proving to yourself "I'm not crazy." And really, you only need to prove it to YOU.
@@Toshineko I can see how this would be helpful for someone to keep anchored in their own reality, but I don't see this being useful as evidence presented in a dispute. I can easily see the tables being turned about how you've become obsessed that you must keep such a detailed account, how it's unhinged and only [random group of people considered lower than the lowest scum] do such things and how maybe you should really consider seeing a psychiatrist because you seriously need help. Besides, everything you wrote is inaccurate because it's either a lie or you misunderstood or completely ignored half of the conversation, omitting the parts that absolve them of all wrongdoing. How dare you simply omit more than half the conversation. How can they trust you from now on if you're going to so intentionally misrepresent them and make them look bad? You're going to have to put forth some effort if you want to earn back any trust.
Most narcissists have very high charisma to attract many. So sometimes it is hard to defend or leave/cut them off for these narcissists is almost impossible. For those who have escaped and now live a happy life. I congratulate you. Not everyone has good friends or family to help or are strong themselves or that fortunate.
My family was once controlled by a narcissist and gaslighter who tried to gain control by being the sole point of contact for all of us. It wasn't until we agreed to always check with one another if she said "So and so said x about you" that we retook control. After that she slid into obscurity. It was a near thing, though.
It really helps to have someone to ground you during gaslighting attempts. My bestfriend is that person. I am eternally grateful to her for being my rock.
True, but there are still ways to make your life more tolerable even if you're stuck with a narc. As long as you realise what's going on. Those who haven't realised though... there's no way of really helping them until they decide to take a long, hard look at what's going on with their lives.
Simon: this is a very accurate analysis of gaslighting. It wasn’t until our father passed away that we found out why our mother was so difficult to live with. It turns out she was diagnosed narcissistic, bipolar, and was unmedicated for over 20 years. I am familiar with every single one of these tactics. They both passed away 10 years ago and only 10 months between each other. As much as I miss my father, I know that my life is in a better place because my mother is not here. And don’t worry, I’ve gotten professional help over the years. I have come to terms of the fact that I don’t hate my mother, but I don’t miss her. Mainly because I realize that another I do miss was gone over 20 years ago. Hopefully this is helpful to someone. Ana can get better.
thanks for making this video, i went through hell in a relationship for years filled with gaslighting constantly and this made me feel like i wasn't insane and not just from the same brain the brought me to the insanity in the first place lol.
As a seasoned veteran of two marriages with psychologically abusive narcissists, I truly believe that the movie's depiction of the hint of a threat of violence without ever actually occurring is spot on. I believe that they attempt to refrain from physical abuse simply because physical injury is harder to gaslight away... though not impossible.
My soon to be ex wife tried gaslighting me so much when she cheated and left the family, I’m a very calm and collected person, in 13 years of knowing each other I had never even raised my voice to her. She left with claims of me financially abusing her (I sold collectors items to give her money to help her secure a place), made claims I was stalking her, went to the police claiming I had raised a fist at her (this after she had told me I had made a fist by my side one time which I have no memory of ever doing), claims I had given her a recording device, and many others. She has slagged me off so much to people to justify her behaviour, while I have just focused on protecting the kids. She has even made me doubt myself and I have talked to my psychologist about concerns I am a narcissist and abusive and not aware of it. It has really shattered my self belief.
@@michaelmcdonough4657 Of course I have issues, I would never attempt to deny that at all, but that does not negate or excuse the treatment I have endured for the last 30 years, and it has no bearing on why I believe someone might avoid being physically abusive.
im genuinely curious how women, nearly all women, manage to continuously get into relationships with people who are at most 4% of the population. Like how does one person manage to pull this off let alone the absolutely overwhelming majority of women?
My wife has disassociated amnesia. I have to be careful with her because SHE will think she said something that she never said, and I cannot remember. So I just have to accept it If she's under stress, she doesn't form memories. It took us a while to understand why she couldn't remember stuff
@@leomovalthat was not gaslighting, it was a lie. Not all lies are gaslighting. Gaslighting isn't making someone you believe you, it is making someone not believe themselves.
I have been there personally. I wasn’t the gaslighter, it was my partner, then wife, who was very spoilt, and had very wealthy parents, and a father that dotted on her. It was not a nice experience. The consequences and ramifications were absolutely devastating.
I was with a malignant narc for a decade. She had me gaslit into thinking everything was my fault, even thing's that couldn't possibly be my fault lol😂.
I reckon we could go through the no-doubt, thousands of comments here and not find one single person who will admit to being a gaslighter. (It's *doted* btw :) - but slightly funny they way you wrote it :) )
8:00 I almost just burst into tears. My ex uses the your memory is bad and you are probably depressed as his go to responses for any issues that come up. Or for anything he said he would do and just didn’t. He also would do something I called the trick and trap. He would agree to do something that I really needed done. Then he would just decide not to do it, but not say anything to me about it until til it was too late for me to do it. He would also regularly as my preference on things, just to argue with me about my choices. It was so draining. I used to shake constantly and I went 2 years as a shut in, too anxious to leave the house. When I finally got strong enough to ask him to leave, my entire life started improving and because I was away from him and around normal people, I started to realize how insane our relationship was. I’ve never been treated by anyone the way that man treated me. He made me lose hope in life and love. I don’t know if my body will ever overcome the torment I went through.
Thank you so much for such an informative, concise, yet thorough explanation of this! I've been looking for an answer to this all year, but all I've been able to find is rambling posts from armchair psychiatrists. Thanks for the clarification of the origin too, a big part of my confusion is that the name made no sense to me.
I was in a relationship for years where this was being done to me. I didn't have a word for it for a long time. As soon as I found out what gaslighting was, I felt so validated. They also separated me from all family and friends I had, prevented me from making new friends, and made me completely reliant on them. It made me feel totally insane, like I was living in a false reality. I still get extremely stressed out when someone suggests that I am remembering things incorrectly. One of the worst things that happened was when they drugged me and then told me I "blacked out after one drink," and that I was "acting crazy in front of everyone." I actually believed it. It happened two times. I've never blacked out before, or since those incidents.
Trust your instincts. Your instincts are never wrong. No one knows what you remember better than yourself. I came out of my gaslighting mother with a stubborn conviction to reject anyone who says I'm remembering things wrong.
You described my wife to a scary accurate degree, and then described me and the steps I started taking to try and preserve my sanity and prove reality to a disturbing tee. She is a master gas lighter. I started documenting conversations. Recording conversations. Playing them back later when she would flip the script and claim I was misremembering. And somehow she would convince me to delete the videos/documentation and then start gas lighting me again about what happened. I'm currently divorcing her.
In my experience "described to a scary accurate degree" is a super common response that victims of this have. It's not that one or two behaviors fit, it's that they all do.
After many years of gaslighting from someone I found written evidence of what they had done, but it came too late as that person had died and to expose them at that point would have no point other than to make me look bitter and petty.
Infamous gaslighting phrases I heard growing up: 1. You're overreacting. 2. Oh come on, it wasn't really that bad. 3. You're imagining things. 4. That's not what I said. 5. That's not what happened. 6. Just get over it, you're making a mountain out of a mole hill. 7. There are worse things than that. 8. You never did *insert x* 9. That's not what YOU said (yeah you know you're in deep when you question the words coming out of your own mouth.) 10. You're upset. Well talk about it when you calm down (and then you know... Never discussing what actually upset you)
12 My partner involved others. Getting me so angry and muddled, I might cry in frustration and yell, and he would tell my kids "look mom having tantrums,isn't she a silly baby."
From Team Four Star's HFIL episode: Cell: "Is this gaslighting? Am I being gaslit?" Frieza: "If I were gaslighting you, you'd never know it." Cell: "Is THAT gaslighting?" Frieza: "Shut up."
I just left a job where I was gaslighted from my boss for months. It is so sneaky and you really don‘t notice it happening. You slowly start to question your concept of reality and eventually your mental state. It took me months to recover from that, I consider myself a stable person, but this is really something to be aware of, even for the mentally sane
BPD shares a lot of symptoms with bipolar. It can be very difficult to diagnose it. "Easy way" to tell is to give them antidepressants and see if it makes them manic. Most mental health professionals don't want to take the risk.
I was once at the receiving end in the work environment. I'd had a poor relationship with the deputy finance director. She often made unreasonable requests and demonstrated a poor understanding of basic arithmetic (e.g. she thought if division A grew by 2% and division B grew by 10%, then the combined growth would be 12%). The gaslighting came when she waited until 5pm before asking me for a particular piece of work that she needed before a 9am meeting the next day. It would be about a day's worth of work. So I pulled an all nighter. By the morning, when I handed the work over, she looked at me puzzled and claimed she'd never asked for it and asked me why I thought she would. I had hoped I'd outlast her, but I resigned shortly afterwards.
Into the Shadows, with the presentation read by Simon, releasing this less than a day after Warfronts, also with the presentation read by Simon, did a Tulsi Gabbard piece which naturally elicited the gaslighting response of a lot of russian bots out there to attempt to deny or distract from her nature is perfect.
@ My sentence structure was a bit lacking. I didn’t mean to send the message that I was a victim. I was as guilty as my partner. I just didn’t realize how problematic I was until it was too late. Since, I have lived and learned.
I was married to a psychopathic gaslighter. I was in real fear for my sanity, and started writing things down, and he tried to convince me that I was still not asking him or telling him the things I had written down. I had him sign them, and he *still* tried to tell me I was forging his signature. I moved out the next week. It messed me up for a long time. This was over 30 years ago. I'm a retired RN, and was an RN at that time. He almost had me convinced I was too crazy to go back to work after having our child, had cut me off from all friends, family, moved us two states away. Folk, emotional abuse is a lot easier to accomplish on someone than you think it is, and it is subtle at first. If you have a family member, male or female, that is suddenly falling out of contact, DRIVE there and go see them and make SURE they are ok. They can't be cut off if you make sure you are still showing up.
Thank you thank you…I cannot thank you enough. Even now I doubt myself. Even now! But your very clear and analytical breakdown has made it abundantly clear what happened to me for all those years. It’s still so devastating. I am so grateful for this video. Whenever I start to doubt I’ll be pulling this up.
In order to fall for gaslighting, you must trust others more than yourself. That I do not do. I take everything people tell me with a grain of salt. Especially if they are really trying to convince me of something just because they say so. I would not have an idea or scenario in my head if it did not happen or I did not see evidence to support my claims. Trust yourself more than other people
Sadly, not an option for everyone. People with ADHD are probably very vulnerable to gaslighting, because a lot of people with ADHD really do regularly forget to pass on important information, do important tasks, keep track of their things or even notice objects in their environment. When you know for a fact that your memory is fallible, trust in your own memory is a lot harder to come by and...frankly,.impractical.
It's seldom emphasized how often this behaviour shows up in one's family of origin. In which case, you can't just outsmart them, fend them off, or even see through what they are doing. It's hard for a small child to "trust themselves more than other people", particularly if your parents are involved.
@@Talisguy I have inattentive hyperactivity disorder, but to compensate I learned a ton of retention methods. Including taking compulsive notes and some active memory exercises Someone with ADHD gets used to questioning there own recollection, and eventually they ether become slightly absentminded adults, or exactly the worst kid of people to try to gaslight. The former tend to shrug off the minor issues a gaslighter tends to start with as perfectly normal behavior for them, which can short cercut the responsive gaslight feedback loop, and the latter tends to use obsessive notes and techniques like using memory palaces with every day conversations which very quickly reveals to them responsive gaslighting. The end result is in both cases that it usually takes active methods, like changing someones notes, to gaslight an adult with ADHD, barring other issues Point is, with the right tools ADHD isn't as vulnerable to this as you might think, though the use of the tools makes you seem paranoid and slightly distrustful of other people's memories.
Recently got out of a long relationship with someone who gaslit me at an industrial level. Really messed me up. You really can psychologically destroy someone. What sucks most is the Stockholm Syndrome that I have for her, even though I logically, without a shadow of a doubt, know that everything she did was wrong. Tough pill to swallow for sure. Life goes on, but healing from that is an exceptionally steep climb.
I have a friend they do have bipolar, so would always say they were an unreliable narrator. The thing they described their partner doing to them was not good. First was financial abuse, emotional manipulation and definitely gaslighting. They always chose the therapist for my friend and had a meeting with them first. Once a therapist told my friend their partner "didn't have time" to gaslight them. I still wish i could have gotten them out.
I know well what gaslighting looks like. Can't tell you how many times "false memory syndrome" came up any time anyone tried to confront my dad about his abusive behavior.
Someone very dear to me suffered from her partner’s gaslighting for a long time (I didn’t know what gaslighting meant) but she suffered greatly. He still tries to but she got wise, her stamina to contend with this and many other problems has me gasping with awe that she has survived. Sadly whether he is aware of his problem or not (I have my suspicions), he hasn’t changed and other people will suffer.😢
Had an ex gaslight me all the time. I suspected he was seeing another (married) woman we worked with and he'd tell me I'm making stuff up in my head. I also knew he was messaging another woman. Turns out, not only was he with her all the damn time, he was also planning his escape with another woman on the other side of the country 😂 Forget the love triangle, the love quadrangle is where it's at
Interesting psychology, especially as I'm sure we've all experienced manipulatives without having a word as such, until the 2010s explosive use of gaslighting.
I was with my ex for 12 years and they gaslit the fuck out of me. The only reason I ever got away from them is because they finally got bored of me and cast me aside for someone else. I feel bad for whoever they decided to target next but I'm grateful I got out of that amazingly toxic relationship.
I was with a covert narcissist for 2.5 years before I met my husband back in 2021. He used to do this to me all the time. It got so bad, I didn't even trust my own feelings or reactions to his abuse. That's why they do it... To break you down so that they can use, misuse and abuse you and you won't question it.
I just ended a 14 year merrige due to this. I had my friends and family isolated from me. I got to the point of not wanting to have a conversation without a recording. I'm 6mo out of the ordeal and have 50/50 custody of my children. It is very hard. I recommend only communicating through text and email. NEVER do verbal communication regardless of the number of people present. Keep your cool, and remember why you left.
The way I had to do a double take and questioned if I’ve really been gaslit when Simon mentioned “not all gaslighting is actually gaslighting” only to hear his descriptions of like basic lying and it was like okay yeah no, it wasn’t that in the slightest lol. When you’re being gaslit, the best option is to completely cut ties, but if that isn’t an option at the very least keep those ties as loose as possible. Unfortunately the narcissists in my life are a parent and grandparent. Cutting ties with them would mean cutting ties with the people around them - my little siblings who are stuck under our parent’s thumb until they can move out, or my immediate family members who are my grandparent’s caregiver. So I stay as far as arm’s length as possible, make sure that those who are in the worst of it know I’m there for them if they need it, and really only visit with the narcissist directly when I don’t have much of a choice. Makes the interactions much more functional because I’m not a direct target of their abuse, and when they start pulling shit I just back away again. Not exactly the healthiest method I have no doubt, but unfortunately as you said, cutting ties entirely is much easier said than done.
Unfortunately, nearly every relationship I ever entered was with someone suffering from NPD, DID, Anxiety, BPD, Depression, OCD, and other disastrous, volatile disorders which almost always destroyed those (flawed) relationships. Additionally, independent of my intimate relationships, I've met a LOT of individuals who were also really broken in extraordinarily toxic ways. I did my best over the past 30+ years, but from my experiences over those decades... I don't think even a fraction of people who abuse others via their mental malaises are identified. It's pretty obvious why, too; they'd NEVER admit to any wrongdoing nor would they allow anyone to suggest that they were an NPDer, DIDer, etc. Sadly, there's neither a cure for any of these mental illnesses nor are the victims permitted to talk about their impossibly difficult situations. Even Johnny Depp was nearly destroyed by a narcissistic megalomaniac, and he's wealthy, powerful, influential, popular, etc.! Poor, non-powerful, unknown people (both male & female) would simply be told that THEY are the problem. 😕 And that'd be the end of it; no evidence necessary.
I remember watching the OG movie with my dad when I was a kid, it's absolutely bonkers that it has become such an on-point term in modern times. Weird legacy.
I actually had a therapist try to gaslight me. We were only a couple sessions in and I was discussing my condition. She said "Oh, I have some materials on that", reached down for a bag that wasn't there, then said "Oh, I must've left it at home. Would you like me to bring them in next week?". I said sure. The following week, when we got to end of the session and she hadn't brought it up, I asked if she'd brought them in. She said, in a new, overly sweet tone, "Gosh, I don't know what you're talking about. I don't even have any materials on that. Are you sure that's what I said?" I recorded our next session after that and then realized, if you feel the need to record your therapy sessions to make sure you're not crazy, dump that therapist 😂 It was also a lesson in "Trust your gut". I had a very clear sinking feeling when I met with her, but because she sounded nice and said all the right things, I thought something was wrong with me. Nah. Your instincts pick up on non-verbal cues that your conscience mind won't register at first. It doesn't matter why they give you the heeby-jeebies. Just believe it and get away from them.
I had some heated arguments with my ex about things she’d say to me that hurt my feelings. Whenever I pointed out what she said, she’d deny it or claim I was twisting her words. So, I decided to record our conversations. She got even angrier and started yelling at me, accusing me of not loving her and saying she no longer trusted me. It was like trying to reach someone through a brick wall. The best thing I did was to end things with her.
An important distinction often missed is that gaslighting has become the go-to defense for people who are actually acting irrationally or hysterical. It can be a very useful simescreen for certain types of people to cover for their own bad behavior. Be mindful of what the truth is and who is trying to subvert it, always.
My soon to be ex wife has BPD and gaslighted me for 15 years. She emotionally and sometimes physically abused both myself, our pets, and our three sons. She finally attacked another woman and almost strangled another women to death over another man. At that point I told her enough and now her and her also mentally ill bf live homeless in an rv. And now the woman she attacked and I are both left trying to pick up the bits of our shattered lives and carry on for all our kids. It was awful and evil but part of me still loves her and that very fact just kills me.
Had an abusive marriage. This video really highlights well all the tools they use to bring you to a state where you don't trust your own intuition and you don't know who you are. It's malicious. Deceitful. Rotten.
I'm working away, listening to this in my headphones, and I keep yelling "holy crap", and that last bit absolutely devastated me. My ex would say things I highly suspected to be lies, I told her to record our conversations because if my memory was faulty I'd want to know so we could fix it. She never did. Then she got a word association wrong and I knew beyond any doubt she was gaslighting me.
I've once gaslit my boss (let's call him Jeff) into giving me a second raise by taking advantage of the fact that the boss and person responsible for verification if certain employee didn't already got a raise this year (because boss OBVIOUSLY wasn't going to just remember such things) didn't like each other very much and since "raise verification" wasn't even in the job description of that person so she just didn't do it at the time due to the personal conflict with the boss.
Great to have a bald cancer patient advocate a energy drink full of additives, chemicals and preservatives! All while the video is about 'gaslighting' :) Well done mate! Cheers!
While some borderlines are extremely manipulative. Being borderline doesn’t make you manipulative. It’s an inherent instability in emotions. Just the same as being a psychopath doesn’t make you a killer. It’s just an inherent lack of emotions.
I feel you bro,I was deeply in love with one for 18 months living together,a roller coaster of emotions I still struggle to comprehend 7 years later,the best of times but equally the worst of times,the more I thought about it borderlines are basically like heroin,once they get their claws into you,it leaves a permanent scar on both the mind and body.........
When you find yourself with video and voice recorder or checklists when you haven't needed them before since you've met your significant other. We may have bad news for you
The only way to recognize attempted gaslighting is to have experienced it and come out the other side. My mother is a narcist, and she has gaslit me for decades before I mentally broke away from her. I rarely listen to anything she says anymore. Just skim the conversations for the important bits like what her doctor said during her latest appointment. A few years back, a former boss tried to gaslight me, and I recognized the behavior because of my mother. I started writing things down just in case I needed to verify things with the government in case they did an audit, i was his bookkeeper and office manager. Thank goddess, there were good people around me, and the auditors saw through his bullshit when he tried to blame every problem there on me. Gaslighting is the worst type of abuse I had to endure, and I've been through them all.
I was in a very abusive relationship & he would gaslight me constantly causing me to become emotional unstable, he was also very physically abusive & if I didn't leave I truly believe that he would of killed me if I stayed
I’ve been married for 28 years. At the beginning of our marriage I would always defer to my husband’s memory of things because he would have dates, times, numbers, and I’m not a numbers person. At some point after children I realized that his perception of what happened was very different from mine and he would use words that I never said. I would think, that doesn’t sound like me. After that realization, I don’t take his view as gospel anymore and challenge him. I don’t like confrontation but menopause has had beautiful effect…I don’t give a 💩 anymore ☺️
I had an Austrailian gaslight me once in Colorado. We lived together for years, and one day he came into the room to request something. Minutes later, he asked me for the same object again, left, and then repeated the process as if I had never given it to him in his previous requests. I discovered the deception when I went into the other room and found a pile of uneaten doggie bones on the floor. Cubby was such an adorably clever Shepherd I decided to forgive him for his deception. He used to sneak over to the coffee table while I was eating and place his head next to my plate, sharply turning it away from the food. He would stiffly wait for me to say something, then rapidly turn his head to look at me, freezing with his muzzle hovering directly over the plate. When I asked what he was doing, he would look up at me guiltily and try to lick the food as if in slow motion. What a good bad boy he was.
I had a borderline/narcissist partner and I think the wildest part is that they used almost every example quote used in the video. I think it's interesting that for something that's self taught, they all say the same thing.
HOODWINKED! That’s the previous word used for a similar situation. People who have been “Gasslighted” can be said to have been “hoodwinked” essentially all being a deception.
Five topics to fix society via discussion: -Anti-natalism vs Natalism -The 3 basic needs/prenatal needs Three things necessary for human evolution that are provided while in the womb which are; food, shelter and medical care. -Platinum rule Do whatever makes one happier unless it interferes with another persons ability to do the same. -MBTI (research yours and connect with others) -Art (pick one and get better at it!)
Everyone has gaslighted at one time or more in their life... With that, I feel that my personal attempts to gaslight were obvious and transparent. Luckily, the circumstances were not serious and that was back when I was dating -- which was about 20 years or so ago.
Thanks! Nice clarification of the different ways it's deployed. I'm pretty sure the ex was/is a reactive narcissist. I still can't believe how easily he managed it. Glad it's over. Yer right, Simon. If ya realise yer being gaslit, run. Run anywhere, it's worth it.
We do tend to be the victim of gaslighting more often, but through therapy I've come to realize the things I was doing that were manipulative if not necessarily gaslighting. Thankfully once we are aware of it people with BPD can and often do overcome the drive. My biggest coping strategy is to just not take any action when I'm in the middle of an emotional overwhelm and wait it out. But yes as people pleasers we're one of the easiest groups to successfully gaslight.
I had an ex boyfriend that was like this and then made friends with someone I thought was very similar to him and I couldn’t tell why and this is what they shared in common oh my goodness thank you
There is a whole district in San Diego. It makes sense for a city in California where people go to expensive restaurants while stepping over drug addicts.
A gas lighter's ultimate goal is essentially to be able to ask a person "who would you rather believe? Me or your own eyes?" And then have the other party respond with "You obviously! "
I fell prey to this tactic and it cost me dearly. I didn’t even realize how intensely I was being manipulated for almost a year after removing myself from the situation. Now I don’t have any desire for a relationship or even friendship. The idea is nice, but I don’t trust my judgment of other people anymore. Maybe he wasn’t aware of what he was doing….or maybe he was just evil. 😂 Thanks for the video Simon. Good script Kevin, thanks.
When you've spent your whole life obsessed with fact-checking every piece of information you consume, but especially your thoughts and feelings. And then it turns out you've been gaslit by your mother ever since before you could form concise memories. Holy shit.
My ex was so good at this I actually think he believes the things he says. I have to keep my distance because it’s like getting can’t help it or something. He is just manipulative by nature or something. I am sad he is the father of my kids. I have been diagnosed with ptsd after spending 12 years with him. And even now I have no idea who I anymore. It’s so damaging. I’m Audhd and I think that made it easier for him to break me and keep me in the relationship.
Yep. Its insane.i had to record my whole life to make sure I am not an abuser nor going insane. When she wad confronted with the evidence, she went berserk and started breaking the whole house and assaulting me for almost 2hs until she p7nched me for the 3rd time. Got slapped so hard she sat down quiet and silent. Was going to allow her to stay until she can go back to spain. She did it again so to the street she went at 2am in rotterdam
Visit gamersupps.gg/ITS, and use code ITS for 10% off on Gamersupps products.
Gaslighting = indirectly and repeatedly using President Trump as the basis for negative video subject's and then denying you're doing it
Please do an episode on institutional retaliation against whistle-blowers if you can! 🎉
Simon you said 100% off, you gotta be careful how you type things, you know how your fingers are nowadays
I had a previous partner try to convince me I had early onset Alzheimer’s as part of their gaslighting of me and then became angry when I started carrying moleskin notebooks to note down our conversations in as a means of verification. He went so far as to tare pages out of my notebooks and then claim I had done it. The degree of lasting harm this type of this type of phycological abuse causes cannot be understated and those that engage in it must be avoided at all costs.
I'm obviously very sorry you were in that situation but his line of thinking is so flawed it's actually sort of funny..? "you have the disease that makes you forget!" "okay, I'll carry around notebooks and try to remember more often.." "excuse me how dare you react to having the forgetting disease by trying to remember???"
Holy sh*t that's horrible I really hope your okay arfter that
I feel your pain and I can relate to what you've gone through.
As a survivor, do you have any suggestions for someone who is just now starting to realize what has been going on?
@@blagosphere9000 I realize you're not asking me, but my advice would be to run. Go no contact if you can. If you can't, stay alert. As you learn more and more what to look for, you can begin to see them coming from a mile away, and the better you'll become at letting their toxity just bounce off you while you laugh at their childish temper tantrums. Also, do everything you can to avoid giving them fuel. Anything they learn about you is fair game to turn around and weaponize against you, so the fewer details you can share with them, the better. It is a hard road to travel, but at the end of it you'll be amazed at how free you feel. It's definitely worth the struggle to get out of their clutches. Good luck!! 🤗
Been there and got diagnosed as having Alzheimer’s by my now ex. Luckily, I’m a logician and, once I saw a pattern, did some research, finding the term gaslighting. After that, he had some spectacular rows whenever I refused to accept his version of reality; I say “he” because he went incandescent and argued with himself.
Anyway, every abuser uses the same playbook. I’d recommend everyone else reads “Why Does He Do That” by Lundy Bancroft.
How many narcissists does it take to change a lightbulb?
None, they all use gaslighting,
What light bulb? I changed that yesterday, you are mistaken 😂😂😂
That's a good one! I'm writing that down! 😁🤣
🤣🤣🤣 Thank you for the laugh.
Nice
The comma at the end is messing with me.
I feel like someone has removed half the sentence, but that can't be right... right?
Narcissist's wouldn't do that, removing half a sentence!?
I had a family member gaslight me so badly for so long (almost 20 years by the end) that i questioned if i was having memory issues or even dementia. I went to a neuropsychologist for assessment (with the gaslighter coming along to "point out the gaps"). Eventually broke away and started therapy and other testing. turns out i don't have any worse of a memory than anyone else - and i only had "memory issues" with the gaslighter. funny thing that....
it's incredibly insidious and disturbing to experience. I started taking notes of all conversations. This was actually something they encouraged for work. pretty sure they didn't want me to do it with them, but i did. it was very eye opening. they would say something hadn't happened or they hadn't said something, or I had or hadn't said something...and i'd look back in my notes and...yep, there it was.
i'm a very logical, analytical, well-educated person and i was convinced i had some kind of brain damage because of that person. It can happen to anyone. thankfully they live very, very far away from me and no longer have my phone number.
Remember when Santa's Little Helper ate my goldfish and you lied and said I never had a goldfish? Then why did I have the bowl, Bart? Why did I have the bowl?
There never was a goldfish, i always found it weird you dragged that bowl everywhere. i didnt want to ask, as i thought you felt safe with it, like a emotional support bowl💀 it fits your unique unhinged style you know i love !
This made me laugh for like 5 minutes.. and now I have to go dig out some old DVDs… and find a DVD player. 🤣
This was something I used to quote but I hadn't thought of it in a long time. Thanks for bringing it to mind
My now Ex used to do this to me. She would fly into fits of rage and shout and threaten me with violence, One they had calmed down they would then claim that it was me that did all the anger and it was completely unprovoked, meanwhile they hadn't done a thing.
I honestly believe I had ended up being married to a person with a personality disorder. Even now they show no remorse for their actions and never had done, so I'm convinced that they are also a psychopath.
The divorce was a nightmare; they waited until I was out the house for a couple of weeks then got a solicitor to send me a letter stating I was a threat to them and it also said that if I went back to the house they would call the police on me.
They lied on the divorce petition with such crazy accusations that my solicitor was convinced that the judge would reject the petition, but they could see pretty quickly that I needed to get out of this abusive relationship. It took 1 year and 8 months to get the divorce completed as my ex wouldn't stop lying to the solicitor.
Anyhow I'm out of it now. I was probably heading for an early death with all the stress I had to endure on a daily basis.
Not feeling guilty about their abuse doesn't make him a psychopath but a narcist. My mother is 1 of those, and she still doesn't understand why I distrust her so much. She thinks her only sin is not giving me a bigger house growing up. I can't trust a word she says because she will say something completely contradictory days later and refuse to admit anything different. That's how I recognized the gaslighting and distanced myself from her. She's my mother, so I can't completely cut her off. I'm lucky I have the self-confidence to recognize when someone is contradicting themselves and am stubborn enough to believe in my own memories. That's how I recognize gaslighting now. Trust your instincts. If you think they said something different earlier, but they are adamant they didn't, believe yourself. Your instincts are never wrong.
It's an overused term today, but my ex is a true sociopathic narcissistic. After we split up I had to essentially deprogram myself like someone leaving a cult. I was convinced black was white and up was down purely because that fit her reality as explained to me.
Eventually it gets to the point when they don't have to lie or come up with an excuse. You, by default, come up with one for them in which they did nothing wrong and you probably just don't remember it correctly. Like most others with her personality she was a master at claiming victimhood while attacking and trying to destroy anyone that didn't go along with her. Nothing was ever her fault. Anything that went wrong with either someone else's fault, or an outcome that couldn't have been seen and the result of outside influences.
A mutual friend from that time describes it like watching a vampire. She finds people to control. (Those that called her out on her BS too early are quickly banished.) Then drains them of whatever they have that is useful for her. When done, they are discarded. Usually with accusations of doing something bad enough for others to cut contact with them.
Rinse, repeat. Move on to the next victims.
G'day,
There there, commiserations indeed.
I too married a PsychoCeramic (Cracked Pot), I stayed there for 7 years, and then the Custody Case lasted 9 years...; on my 14th wedding anniversary I learned that both my two stepsons were in separate Psychiatric institutions...., in the final spasm of LegalEagleBeagle&Briefcase, my wife (not yet divorced - because that would mean her agreeing to sign something I had also signed...!) lost 4 Cases in 4 Jurisdictions in 4 calendar weeks...
My children thus finally were rescued from my own exceedingly bad taste in Partners (Acquired Shit-Magnet Effect!) ; but a fortnight later my eldest stepson succumbed to the toxicity of his childhood, and passed away before turning 21...
When I recognised how I had come to develop such foul taste in Partners, I resolved to remain happily single, and to not inflict Daddy's latest Girlfriend Fantasy onto my children...; and thus my two kids grew up to be happy and functional...
The trick is to recognise when one's partners are becoming sequentially worse, and stop there ; without proceeding to the next bad choice...(!).
In my experience.
And, beware of the
Principle of Equal Damage...
One is generally attractive to someone who has been equally emotionally damaged, in their own previous experiences - it's what makes the couple relatable to each other..., apparently.
Such is life,
Live a good one.....
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
Why do you use the pronoun they, when you talk about a certain woman?
I can see the point of using THEY when you mean he or she.
But in this case, it seems strange.
It's an honest question from an English teacher in Germany.
@@christopherconard2831The Perry menopause can make the behaviour unbearable.
I love Simon! Even though he is a just on my laptop he kind of keeps me company when I don't really have any! I really appreciate you Simon!
I came out of an incredibly abusive relationship a year ago. Telling my family was so hard, but it turns out they knew. He gaslit me into thinking I was stupid, unattractive, fat and that I should be grateful for his attention. He bullied me in every way possible and used my disability against me. He made me think I had hearing problems and early onset dementia
I'm so sorry, I'm glad you got out & that your family supported you 🩷. I've been there, it's so hard to escape.
When we know better, we do better. You are beautiful. You matter. 💖
Try changing your youtube handle to something like "ConfidentWoman"
@@mb-3faze thanks! I've fallen into a brilliant relationship with the best guy ever who constantly makes me feel good about myself and tells me how much he loves me. He understands I've ptsd and does everything he can to not set it off. He's the best
@@wonky_shoebox7514 Genuinely happy for you x
“These aren’t the droid you are looking for…”
Thank you for an analytical discussion on this form of abuse.
Clearly americans are the most gaslighted ever, half of them think the trump years were glorious not the worst years in america since ww2.
Gaslightings not real... you're just crazy
@cristianschuster9458 🤣🤣🤣
There's another way to protect yourself from gaslighters, and that is to journal your conversation. Always journal about what those gaslighters said immediately, or as quickly as possible. That way, if the gaslighter were to say, "I'll take you to the movie" only for him to say, "I never agreed on taking you to a movie" then the gaslighting becomes less effective. Of course, journaling won't hold them accountable, but it can help you stay sane.
I started doing that with my narc mom in high school. I would immediately write down everything she said. Of course then she would deny ever having said it. I eventually went no contact with her.
Absolutely! Put more effort into making it obvious so everyone else can see what YOU see. It may take time to do this, but it's a good way to break down their argument. Journaling/jotting down the strange behaviors you've noticed is probably one of the first steps into proving to yourself "I'm not crazy." And really, you only need to prove it to YOU.
Yeah, you can absolutely detect lies by inconsistencies. If it doesn't logically make sense, you know they're full of shit.
Voice recorders do wonderfully at painting accurate pictures...
@@Toshineko I can see how this would be helpful for someone to keep anchored in their own reality, but I don't see this being useful as evidence presented in a dispute. I can easily see the tables being turned about how you've become obsessed that you must keep such a detailed account, how it's unhinged and only [random group of people considered lower than the lowest scum] do such things and how maybe you should really consider seeing a psychiatrist because you seriously need help. Besides, everything you wrote is inaccurate because it's either a lie or you misunderstood or completely ignored half of the conversation, omitting the parts that absolve them of all wrongdoing. How dare you simply omit more than half the conversation. How can they trust you from now on if you're going to so intentionally misrepresent them and make them look bad? You're going to have to put forth some effort if you want to earn back any trust.
Most narcissists have very high charisma to attract many.
So sometimes it is hard to defend or leave/cut them off for these narcissists is almost impossible.
For those who have escaped and now live a happy life. I congratulate you. Not everyone has good friends or family to help or are strong themselves or that fortunate.
My family was once controlled by a narcissist and gaslighter who tried to gain control by being the sole point of contact for all of us. It wasn't until we agreed to always check with one another if she said "So and so said x about you" that we retook control. After that she slid into obscurity. It was a near thing, though.
@@donaldwert7137Kim Nasso?
@@zenjon7892 No. Isn't it frustrating how many there are out there, though?
It really helps to have someone to ground you during gaslighting attempts. My bestfriend is that person. I am eternally grateful to her for being my rock.
True, but there are still ways to make your life more tolerable even if you're stuck with a narc. As long as you realise what's going on. Those who haven't realised though... there's no way of really helping them until they decide to take a long, hard look at what's going on with their lives.
Simon: this is a very accurate analysis of gaslighting. It wasn’t until our father passed away that we found out why our mother was so difficult to live with. It turns out she was diagnosed narcissistic, bipolar, and was unmedicated for over 20 years. I am familiar with every single one of these tactics. They both passed away 10 years ago and only 10 months between each other. As much as I miss my father, I know that my life is in a better place because my mother is not here. And don’t worry, I’ve gotten professional help over the years. I have come to terms of the fact that I don’t hate my mother, but I don’t miss her. Mainly because I realize that another I do miss was gone over 20 years ago. Hopefully this is helpful to someone. Ana can get better.
thanks for making this video, i went through hell in a relationship for years filled with gaslighting constantly and this made me feel like i wasn't insane and not just from the same brain the brought me to the insanity in the first place lol.
You're crazy. That never happened. You always exaggerate.
As a seasoned veteran of two marriages with psychologically abusive narcissists, I truly believe that the movie's depiction of the hint of a threat of violence without ever actually occurring is spot on. I believe that they attempt to refrain from physical abuse simply because physical injury is harder to gaslight away... though not impossible.
Sounds like your the issue, I’m not going to lie.
My soon to be ex wife tried gaslighting me so much when she cheated and left the family, I’m a very calm and collected person, in 13 years of knowing each other I had never even raised my voice to her. She left with claims of me financially abusing her (I sold collectors items to give her money to help her secure a place), made claims I was stalking her, went to the police claiming I had raised a fist at her (this after she had told me I had made a fist by my side one time which I have no memory of ever doing), claims I had given her a recording device, and many others.
She has slagged me off so much to people to justify her behaviour, while I have just focused on protecting the kids. She has even made me doubt myself and I have talked to my psychologist about concerns I am a narcissist and abusive and not aware of it. It has really shattered my self belief.
@@michaelmcdonough4657 Of course I have issues, I would never attempt to deny that at all, but that does not negate or excuse the treatment I have endured for the last 30 years, and it has no bearing on why I believe someone might avoid being physically abusive.
im genuinely curious how women, nearly all women, manage to continuously get into relationships with people who are at most 4% of the population. Like how does one person manage to pull this off let alone the absolutely overwhelming majority of women?
@@Snake369 Your perception is hardly the reality.
My wife has disassociated amnesia. I have to be careful with her because SHE will think she said something that she never said, and I cannot remember. So I just have to accept it
If she's under stress, she doesn't form memories. It took us a while to understand why she couldn't remember stuff
Like once we were at a therapist together and she had a half hour conversation and literally didn't even remember being there. At all.
You’re a wonderful person for standing by her with acceptance and understanding 🌸
You were just gaslit. His wife has no mental problems. He just tells her she does.
@@leomovalthat was not gaslighting, it was a lie. Not all lies are gaslighting.
Gaslighting isn't making someone you believe you, it is making someone not believe themselves.
@@andiward7068
Ok andiward. I'll be nice and spell it out. I wasn't serious. Thank you for your fact check. Our country owes you one.
I have been there personally. I wasn’t the gaslighter, it was my partner, then wife, who was very spoilt, and had very wealthy parents, and a father that dotted on her. It was not a nice experience. The consequences and ramifications were absolutely devastating.
I was with a malignant narc for a decade. She had me gaslit into thinking everything was my fault, even thing's that couldn't possibly be my fault lol😂.
You lived through "Gone Girl" in real life. 😮
I reckon we could go through the no-doubt, thousands of comments here and not find one single person who will admit to being a gaslighter. (It's *doted* btw :) - but slightly funny they way you wrote it :) )
8:00 I almost just burst into tears. My ex uses the your memory is bad and you are probably depressed as his go to responses for any issues that come up. Or for anything he said he would do and just didn’t. He also would do something I called the trick and trap. He would agree to do something that I really needed done. Then he would just decide not to do it, but not say anything to me about it until til it was too late for me to do it. He would also regularly as my preference on things, just to argue with me about my choices. It was so draining. I used to shake constantly and I went 2 years as a shut in, too anxious to leave the house. When I finally got strong enough to ask him to leave, my entire life started improving and because I was away from him and around normal people, I started to realize how insane our relationship was. I’ve never been treated by anyone the way that man treated me. He made me lose hope in life and love. I don’t know if my body will ever overcome the torment I went through.
My ex was THE premier gaslighter. She would gaslight me by accusing me of gaslighting.
GOSH! It probably wasn't THAT bad
@ You're right, it probably wasn't. Love you!
Uno reversed 😂
Same. My ex once even admitted she had been gaslighting me to further gaslight me.
My soon to be ex wife did the same shit all the time
Thank you so much for such an informative, concise, yet thorough explanation of this! I've been looking for an answer to this all year, but all I've been able to find is rambling posts from armchair psychiatrists. Thanks for the clarification of the origin too, a big part of my confusion is that the name made no sense to me.
I was in a relationship for years where this was being done to me. I didn't have a word for it for a long time. As soon as I found out what gaslighting was, I felt so validated. They also separated me from all family and friends I had, prevented me from making new friends, and made me completely reliant on them. It made me feel totally insane, like I was living in a false reality. I still get extremely stressed out when someone suggests that I am remembering things incorrectly. One of the worst things that happened was when they drugged me and then told me I "blacked out after one drink," and that I was "acting crazy in front of everyone." I actually believed it. It happened two times. I've never blacked out before, or since those incidents.
Oh my goodness, that's terrifying! I'm truly sorry they ever did that to you and that you got out!
Trust your instincts. Your instincts are never wrong. No one knows what you remember better than yourself. I came out of my gaslighting mother with a stubborn conviction to reject anyone who says I'm remembering things wrong.
You described my wife to a scary accurate degree, and then described me and the steps I started taking to try and preserve my sanity and prove reality to a disturbing tee. She is a master gas lighter. I started documenting conversations. Recording conversations. Playing them back later when she would flip the script and claim I was misremembering. And somehow she would convince me to delete the videos/documentation and then start gas lighting me again about what happened. I'm currently divorcing her.
Hence the question many ask of... do they do this to themselves as well?
Soon as you deleted that message, did she also delete it in her own mind?
In my experience "described to a scary accurate degree" is a super common response that victims of this have. It's not that one or two behaviors fit, it's that they all do.
After many years of gaslighting from someone I found written evidence of what they had done, but it came too late as that person had died and to expose them at that point would have no point other than to make me look bitter and petty.
Ugh, that's the worst! I'm sorry friend 🩷.
Gaslighting doesn’t exist, you’re just imagining things
😂😂😂
Sounds like something a gaslighter would say.
It died with electricity.
@@jorgelotr3752 no it exploded
If you believe it exists you're insane
Infamous gaslighting phrases I heard growing up:
1. You're overreacting.
2. Oh come on, it wasn't really that bad.
3. You're imagining things.
4. That's not what I said.
5. That's not what happened.
6. Just get over it, you're making a mountain out of a mole hill.
7. There are worse things than that.
8. You never did *insert x*
9. That's not what YOU said (yeah you know you're in deep when you question the words coming out of your own mouth.)
10. You're upset. Well talk about it when you calm down (and then you know... Never discussing what actually upset you)
11. You're the one who started this, not me.
If you have a gaslighting parent like me, that'll be a common thing they'd say too.
12 My partner involved others. Getting me so angry and muddled, I might cry in frustration and yell, and he would tell my kids "look mom having tantrums,isn't she a silly baby."
Wouldn’t it be funny if he just deleted this video?
What video?
What video would he delete???
😂 mandela effect
You weren’t even watching TH-cam, how could you have seen a video?
He already has
Great job! Thank you for doing this. Love your in-depth videos. Please do one on love booming?
From Team Four Star's HFIL episode:
Cell: "Is this gaslighting? Am I being gaslit?"
Frieza: "If I were gaslighting you, you'd never know it."
Cell: "Is THAT gaslighting?"
Frieza: "Shut up."
I just left a job where I was gaslighted from my boss for months. It is so sneaky and you really don‘t notice it happening. You slowly start to question your concept of reality and eventually your mental state. It took me months to recover from that, I consider myself a stable person, but this is really something to be aware of, even for the mentally sane
BPD is usually always "gaslighted" as bipolar disorder.
😂
I see where that could be true. As I was in a relationship with a person with BPD and have known someone who had Bipolar disorder
BPD shares a lot of symptoms with bipolar. It can be very difficult to diagnose it. "Easy way" to tell is to give them antidepressants and see if it makes them manic. Most mental health professionals don't want to take the risk.
I was once at the receiving end in the work environment. I'd had a poor relationship with the deputy finance director. She often made unreasonable requests and demonstrated a poor understanding of basic arithmetic (e.g. she thought if division A grew by 2% and division B grew by 10%, then the combined growth would be 12%). The gaslighting came when she waited until 5pm before asking me for a particular piece of work that she needed before a 9am meeting the next day. It would be about a day's worth of work. So I pulled an all nighter. By the morning, when I handed the work over, she looked at me puzzled and claimed she'd never asked for it and asked me why I thought she would. I had hoped I'd outlast her, but I resigned shortly afterwards.
Into the Shadows, with the presentation read by Simon, releasing this less than a day after Warfronts, also with the presentation read by Simon, did a Tulsi Gabbard piece which naturally elicited the gaslighting response of a lot of russian bots out there to attempt to deny or distract from her nature is perfect.
What is worse then being in a relationship with a partner who is gaslighting you, is realizing you were gaslighting too.
Monsters can turn good people into monsters too. Don't beat yourself up.
@ My sentence structure was a bit lacking. I didn’t mean to send the message that I was a victim. I was as guilty as my partner. I just didn’t realize how problematic I was until it was too late. Since, I have lived and learned.
I was married to a psychopathic gaslighter. I was in real fear for my sanity, and started writing things down, and he tried to convince me that I was still not asking him or telling him the things I had written down. I had him sign them, and he *still* tried to tell me I was forging his signature. I moved out the next week. It messed me up for a long time. This was over 30 years ago. I'm a retired RN, and was an RN at that time. He almost had me convinced I was too crazy to go back to work after having our child, had cut me off from all friends, family, moved us two states away. Folk, emotional abuse is a lot easier to accomplish on someone than you think it is, and it is subtle at first. If you have a family member, male or female, that is suddenly falling out of contact, DRIVE there and go see them and make SURE they are ok. They can't be cut off if you make sure you are still showing up.
Ugh. Married to a narcissist for a short time. Gaslighting can be so devastating, especially when done in such cunning ways.
Thank you thank you…I cannot thank you enough. Even now I doubt myself. Even now! But your very clear and analytical breakdown has made it abundantly clear what happened to me for all those years. It’s still so devastating. I am so grateful for this video. Whenever I start to doubt I’ll be pulling this up.
First thing that comes to mind is Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham. That series was crazy.
Actually, I believe it’s called *Gaslamping*
that made me chuckle, have a free internet point
That’s what they said, are you sure you’re reading and hearing correctly? 😜
Since my gas bills have increased massively I can know longer afford to gaslight anyone. I wonder if you can candlelight someone?🕯️😂
In order to fall for gaslighting, you must trust others more than yourself. That I do not do. I take everything people tell me with a grain of salt. Especially if they are really trying to convince me of something just because they say so. I would not have an idea or scenario in my head if it did not happen or I did not see evidence to support my claims. Trust yourself more than other people
Sadly, not an option for everyone. People with ADHD are probably very vulnerable to gaslighting, because a lot of people with ADHD really do regularly forget to pass on important information, do important tasks, keep track of their things or even notice objects in their environment. When you know for a fact that your memory is fallible, trust in your own memory is a lot harder to come by and...frankly,.impractical.
Don't be so sure. Distrustful people can be gaslighted if you take account of their distrust in your tactics.
Trust me, no one is immune if you love someone enough- no matter how smart you are.
It's seldom emphasized how often this behaviour shows up in one's family of origin. In which case, you can't just outsmart them, fend them off, or even see through what they are doing. It's hard for a small child to "trust themselves more than other people", particularly if your parents are involved.
@@Talisguy
I have inattentive hyperactivity disorder, but to compensate I learned a ton of retention methods. Including taking compulsive notes and some active memory exercises
Someone with ADHD gets used to questioning there own recollection, and eventually they ether become slightly absentminded adults, or exactly the worst kid of people to try to gaslight.
The former tend to shrug off the minor issues a gaslighter tends to start with as perfectly normal behavior for them, which can short cercut the responsive gaslight feedback loop, and the latter tends to use obsessive notes and techniques like using memory palaces with every day conversations which very quickly reveals to them responsive gaslighting. The end result is in both cases that it usually takes active methods, like changing someones notes, to gaslight an adult with ADHD, barring other issues
Point is, with the right tools ADHD isn't as vulnerable to this as you might think, though the use of the tools makes you seem paranoid and slightly distrustful of other people's memories.
Recently got out of a long relationship with someone who gaslit me at an industrial level. Really messed me up. You really can psychologically destroy someone. What sucks most is the Stockholm Syndrome that I have for her, even though I logically, without a shadow of a doubt, know that everything she did was wrong. Tough pill to swallow for sure. Life goes on, but healing from that is an exceptionally steep climb.
I have a friend they do have bipolar, so would always say they were an unreliable narrator. The thing they described their partner doing to them was not good. First was financial abuse, emotional manipulation and definitely gaslighting. They always chose the therapist for my friend and had a meeting with them first. Once a therapist told my friend their partner "didn't have time" to gaslight them. I still wish i could have gotten them out.
I know well what gaslighting looks like. Can't tell you how many times "false memory syndrome" came up any time anyone tried to confront my dad about his abusive behavior.
Someone very dear to me suffered from her partner’s gaslighting for a long time (I didn’t know what gaslighting meant) but she suffered greatly. He still tries to but she got wise, her stamina to contend with this and many other problems has me gasping with awe that she has survived. Sadly whether he is aware of his problem or not (I have my suspicions), he hasn’t changed and other people will suffer.😢
Had an ex gaslight me all the time. I suspected he was seeing another (married) woman we worked with and he'd tell me I'm making stuff up in my head. I also knew he was messaging another woman. Turns out, not only was he with her all the damn time, he was also planning his escape with another woman on the other side of the country 😂 Forget the love triangle, the love quadrangle is where it's at
I prefer a more conventional form of gaslighting, the form that boils the water for my coffee
I had to watch. Brings me back to my psycopath father. Keep you questioning reality & isolated. Best thing that man ever dud fir me was die.
Been gaslighted before it was cool
Interesting psychology, especially as I'm sure we've all experienced manipulatives without having a word as such, until the 2010s explosive use of gaslighting.
It's crazy how a play was made about this in the 1930s, and the word did not enter the American lexicon until almost 80 years later.
How many narcissists does it take to change a lightbulb?
None. They always gaslight. 🙃
I was with my ex for 12 years and they gaslit the fuck out of me. The only reason I ever got away from them is because they finally got bored of me and cast me aside for someone else. I feel bad for whoever they decided to target next but I'm grateful I got out of that amazingly toxic relationship.
psychopaths are narcissists
I was with a covert narcissist for 2.5 years before I met my husband back in 2021. He used to do this to me all the time. It got so bad, I didn't even trust my own feelings or reactions to his abuse. That's why they do it... To break you down so that they can use, misuse and abuse you and you won't question it.
I just ended a 14 year merrige due to this. I had my friends and family isolated from me. I got to the point of not wanting to have a conversation without a recording. I'm 6mo out of the ordeal and have 50/50 custody of my children. It is very hard. I recommend only communicating through text and email. NEVER do verbal communication regardless of the number of people present. Keep your cool, and remember why you left.
The way I had to do a double take and questioned if I’ve really been gaslit when Simon mentioned “not all gaslighting is actually gaslighting” only to hear his descriptions of like basic lying and it was like okay yeah no, it wasn’t that in the slightest lol.
When you’re being gaslit, the best option is to completely cut ties, but if that isn’t an option at the very least keep those ties as loose as possible. Unfortunately the narcissists in my life are a parent and grandparent. Cutting ties with them would mean cutting ties with the people around them - my little siblings who are stuck under our parent’s thumb until they can move out, or my immediate family members who are my grandparent’s caregiver. So I stay as far as arm’s length as possible, make sure that those who are in the worst of it know I’m there for them if they need it, and really only visit with the narcissist directly when I don’t have much of a choice. Makes the interactions much more functional because I’m not a direct target of their abuse, and when they start pulling shit I just back away again.
Not exactly the healthiest method I have no doubt, but unfortunately as you said, cutting ties entirely is much easier said than done.
I wonder if Therapists are tearing their hair out over the incorrect incorporation of DSM terms into the popular lexicon.
Sounds like gaslighting.
Unfortunately, nearly every relationship I ever entered was with someone suffering from NPD, DID, Anxiety, BPD, Depression, OCD, and other disastrous, volatile disorders which almost always destroyed those (flawed) relationships. Additionally, independent of my intimate relationships, I've met a LOT of individuals who were also really broken in extraordinarily toxic ways. I did my best over the past 30+ years, but from my experiences over those decades... I don't think even a fraction of people who abuse others via their mental malaises are identified. It's pretty obvious why, too; they'd NEVER admit to any wrongdoing nor would they allow anyone to suggest that they were an NPDer, DIDer, etc. Sadly, there's neither a cure for any of these mental illnesses nor are the victims permitted to talk about their impossibly difficult situations. Even Johnny Depp was nearly destroyed by a narcissistic megalomaniac, and he's wealthy, powerful, influential, popular, etc.! Poor, non-powerful, unknown people (both male & female) would simply be told that THEY are the problem. 😕 And that'd be the end of it; no evidence necessary.
I remember watching the OG movie with my dad when I was a kid, it's absolutely bonkers that it has become such an on-point term in modern times. Weird legacy.
I actually had a therapist try to gaslight me. We were only a couple sessions in and I was discussing my condition. She said "Oh, I have some materials on that", reached down for a bag that wasn't there, then said "Oh, I must've left it at home. Would you like me to bring them in next week?". I said sure. The following week, when we got to end of the session and she hadn't brought it up, I asked if she'd brought them in. She said, in a new, overly sweet tone, "Gosh, I don't know what you're talking about. I don't even have any materials on that. Are you sure that's what I said?"
I recorded our next session after that and then realized, if you feel the need to record your therapy sessions to make sure you're not crazy, dump that therapist 😂 It was also a lesson in "Trust your gut". I had a very clear sinking feeling when I met with her, but because she sounded nice and said all the right things, I thought something was wrong with me. Nah. Your instincts pick up on non-verbal cues that your conscience mind won't register at first. It doesn't matter why they give you the heeby-jeebies. Just believe it and get away from them.
My gf will never, ever admit when she is in the wrong and/or justify what it is by using something I may or may not have done in the past.
My husband is the same, I'm pretty sure he is a covert* narcissist & it sucks lol. Get out if you can!
@@amandakalei5342 I’m a highly functional dysfunctional person in a dysfunctional relationship.
I had some heated arguments with my ex about things she’d say to me that hurt my feelings. Whenever I pointed out what she said, she’d deny it or claim I was twisting her words. So, I decided to record our conversations. She got even angrier and started yelling at me, accusing me of not loving her and saying she no longer trusted me. It was like trying to reach someone through a brick wall. The best thing I did was to end things with her.
An important distinction often missed is that gaslighting has become the go-to defense for people who are actually acting irrationally or hysterical. It can be a very useful simescreen for certain types of people to cover for their own bad behavior. Be mindful of what the truth is and who is trying to subvert it, always.
My soon to be ex wife has BPD and gaslighted me for 15 years. She emotionally and sometimes physically abused both myself, our pets, and our three sons. She finally attacked another woman and almost strangled another women to death over another man. At that point I told her enough and now her and her also mentally ill bf live homeless in an rv. And now the woman she attacked and I are both left trying to pick up the bits of our shattered lives and carry on for all our kids. It was awful and evil but part of me still loves her and that very fact just kills me.
Thank you Kevin. Today was a perfect day to hear this.
The cataloging events part, that's dead on. I was meticulous. It was like being a detective of my own life
Had an abusive marriage. This video really highlights well all the tools they use to bring you to a state where you don't trust your own intuition and you don't know who you are. It's malicious. Deceitful. Rotten.
I'm working away, listening to this in my headphones, and I keep yelling "holy crap", and that last bit absolutely devastated me. My ex would say things I highly suspected to be lies, I told her to record our conversations because if my memory was faulty I'd want to know so we could fix it. She never did. Then she got a word association wrong and I knew beyond any doubt she was gaslighting me.
I've once gaslit my boss (let's call him Jeff) into giving me a second raise by taking advantage of the fact that the boss and person responsible for verification if certain employee didn't already got a raise this year (because boss OBVIOUSLY wasn't going to just remember such things) didn't like each other very much and since "raise verification" wasn't even in the job description of that person so she just didn't do it at the time due to the personal conflict with the boss.
Gaslighting? You made that up. Now stop trying to manipulate me
I had a borderline gf that gaslighted me for 18 months,we broke up 7 years ago but I feel like on some level it still affects me.....
Sooo, you're saying she's single now?
@JinX-so5yv All yours pal 😂 😂 😂
Would love to see more on this topic, break downs of well known examples of gas lighting and examples that are believed to be but aren’t.
Great to have a bald cancer patient advocate a energy drink full of additives, chemicals and preservatives! All while the video is about 'gaslighting' :) Well done mate! Cheers!
I AM NOT A GASLIGHTER! Simon must have uploaded his video wrong.
Borderlines...they're unbelievably good at this.
And boy oh boy does it mess you up over time.
While some borderlines are extremely manipulative. Being borderline doesn’t make you manipulative. It’s an inherent instability in emotions. Just the same as being a psychopath doesn’t make you a killer. It’s just an inherent lack of emotions.
I feel you bro,I was deeply in love with one for 18 months living together,a roller coaster of emotions I still struggle to comprehend 7 years later,the best of times but equally the worst of times,the more I thought about it borderlines are basically like heroin,once they get their claws into you,it leaves a permanent scar on both the mind and body.........
You described my last relationship and my current workplace on point. 😮
When you find yourself with video and voice recorder or checklists when you haven't needed them before since you've met your significant other. We may have bad news for you
Try parent.
This guy is like 'huh, so that's what's been going on?"
The only way to recognize attempted gaslighting is to have experienced it and come out the other side. My mother is a narcist, and she has gaslit me for decades before I mentally broke away from her. I rarely listen to anything she says anymore. Just skim the conversations for the important bits like what her doctor said during her latest appointment. A few years back, a former boss tried to gaslight me, and I recognized the behavior because of my mother. I started writing things down just in case I needed to verify things with the government in case they did an audit, i was his bookkeeper and office manager. Thank goddess, there were good people around me, and the auditors saw through his bullshit when he tried to blame every problem there on me. Gaslighting is the worst type of abuse I had to endure, and I've been through them all.
I was in a very abusive relationship & he would gaslight me constantly causing me to become emotional unstable, he was also very physically abusive & if I didn't leave I truly believe that he would of killed me if I stayed
Sounds exactly like the what is fed to us on American News Media, our Politicians and our News Papers.
There is a reason news archives exist.
@@Hebdomad7 Sure, but how many Joe Averages do check actually?
The nice newcaster is so familiar, why question what is said?
I’ve been married for 28 years. At the beginning of our marriage I would always defer to my husband’s memory of things because he would have dates, times, numbers, and I’m not a numbers person. At some point after children I realized that his perception of what happened was very different from mine and he would use words that I never said. I would think, that doesn’t sound like me. After that realization, I don’t take his view as gospel anymore and challenge him. I don’t like confrontation but menopause has had beautiful effect…I don’t give a 💩 anymore ☺️
I had an Austrailian gaslight me once in Colorado.
We lived together for years, and one day he came into the room to request something. Minutes later, he asked me for the same object again, left, and then repeated the process as if I had never given it to him in his previous requests.
I discovered the deception when I went into the other room and found a pile of uneaten doggie bones on the floor.
Cubby was such an adorably clever Shepherd I decided to forgive him for his deception.
He used to sneak over to the coffee table while I was eating and place his head next to my plate, sharply turning it away from the food. He would stiffly wait for me to say something, then rapidly turn his head to look at me, freezing with his muzzle hovering directly over the plate. When I asked what he was doing, he would look up at me guiltily and try to lick the food as if in slow motion.
What a good bad boy he was.
I had a borderline/narcissist partner and I think the wildest part is that they used almost every example quote used in the video. I think it's interesting that for something that's self taught, they all say the same thing.
HOODWINKED! That’s the previous word used for a similar situation. People who have been “Gasslighted” can be said to have been “hoodwinked” essentially all being a deception.
Five topics to fix society via discussion:
-Anti-natalism vs Natalism
-The 3 basic needs/prenatal needs
Three things necessary for human evolution that are provided while in the womb which are; food, shelter and medical care.
-Platinum rule
Do whatever makes one happier unless it interferes with another persons ability to do the same.
-MBTI (research yours and connect with others)
-Art (pick one and get better at it!)
Everyone has gaslighted at one time or more in their life... With that, I feel that my personal attempts to gaslight were obvious and transparent. Luckily, the circumstances were not serious and that was back when I was dating -- which was about 20 years or so ago.
I never made that comment on this video, youre imagining things
Thanks! Nice clarification of the different ways it's deployed. I'm pretty sure the ex was/is a reactive narcissist. I still can't believe how easily he managed it. Glad it's over. Yer right, Simon. If ya realise yer being gaslit, run. Run anywhere, it's worth it.
I think there were a couple of Hitchcock movies where this was used. Rear Window was one, and Vertigo was another.
I have BPD but I don't think I gaslight, I more get gaslit as I want to please my partner or friends so they stay.
We do tend to be the victim of gaslighting more often, but through therapy I've come to realize the things I was doing that were manipulative if not necessarily gaslighting. Thankfully once we are aware of it people with BPD can and often do overcome the drive. My biggest coping strategy is to just not take any action when I'm in the middle of an emotional overwhelm and wait it out. But yes as people pleasers we're one of the easiest groups to successfully gaslight.
ohyea gaslighting, the governments favorite passtime
I had an ex boyfriend that was like this and then made friends with someone I thought was very similar to him and I couldn’t tell why and this is what they shared in common oh my goodness thank you
There is a whole district in San Diego. It makes sense for a city in California where people go to expensive restaurants while stepping over drug addicts.
A gas lighter's ultimate goal is essentially to be able to ask a person "who would you rather believe? Me or your own eyes?" And then have the other party respond with "You obviously! "
I fell prey to this tactic and it cost me dearly. I didn’t even realize how intensely I was being manipulated for almost a year after removing myself from the situation. Now I don’t have any desire for a relationship or even friendship. The idea is nice, but I don’t trust my judgment of other people anymore. Maybe he wasn’t aware of what he was doing….or maybe he was just evil. 😂
Thanks for the video Simon. Good script Kevin, thanks.
When you've spent your whole life obsessed with fact-checking every piece of information you consume, but especially your thoughts and feelings.
And then it turns out you've been gaslit by your mother ever since before you could form concise memories.
Holy shit.
"It's all in your head Mr. Tweedy."
- Much later -
"I told ya they was organized."
My ex was so good at this I actually think he believes the things he says. I have to keep my distance because it’s like getting can’t help it or something. He is just manipulative by nature or something. I am sad he is the father of my kids. I have been diagnosed with ptsd after spending 12 years with him. And even now I have no idea who I anymore. It’s so damaging.
I’m Audhd and I think that made it easier for him to break me and keep me in the relationship.
Yep. Its insane.i had to record my whole life to make sure I am not an abuser nor going insane. When she wad confronted with the evidence, she went berserk and started breaking the whole house and assaulting me for almost 2hs until she p7nched me for the 3rd time. Got slapped so hard she sat down quiet and silent. Was going to allow her to stay until she can go back to spain. She did it again so to the street she went at 2am in rotterdam