Gaslighting is an abusive tactic meant to make you doubt your thoughts, emotions, and feelings. It can be traumatizing because gaslighting is so insidious—it strips away your right to be understood and appreciated. It is a nasty mind game tactic that is used by manipulators, social predators, emotional abusers, bullies, and those with NPD narcissistic personality disorder.
Being gaslighted can make you feel irrational, extremely insecure, and that you're constantly making mistakes. The emotional abuser might say things like I never said that you must be losing it, why are you paranoid. The toxic abuser might also do things like hiding your car keys, cell phone, or ignoring you. You may hear things such as' You're going crazy, you’re too sensitive” or “you’re overreacting”. "They will twist your words to fit into their narrative or changing the subject to draw attention from the truth. They will tell you how you should feel, which is a psychological tactic of mind-control.
The motivation behind it is manipulation, power, and control. 🔰
When someone gaslights you they’re thinking only about themselves, and their ego, not you. Their game plan is for you to have the wrong idea or impression about what they're telling you as a way to throw you off balance. Gaslighting is a favorite tactic that abusers also use to make you question your reality. If you confront the narcissist or individual with something they said or did, their response is to act as though it never happened or having you think that you misinterpreted the situation. Their goal is convincing you that your experiences are unreal or fabricated. They normally represent a false narrative to their victims which leads you to doubt their perceptions and become confused. This sneaky manipulation tactic can emotionally hurt you, because their ultimate objective is to control, dominate, and take full advantage of their victim. Toxic abusers cause confusion, and twist communications. Many victims doubt themselves and continually apologize for disagreeing or upsetting the toxic abuser or manipulator. This happens because the toxic abuser wants to keep their victims in a constant state of insecurity, doubt, and fear which is why gaslighting is a nasty mind game. May you know the signs, may you not be a victim of gaslighting, and may you do whatever you need to do to protect yourself from emotional-psychological abuse/abusers.
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