Have you ever had the sensation that the existence you are living is suddenly being brought to doubt, your senses being challenged and your sanity come into question? Well, if you have ever been left feeling doubtful of your own sanity, you could very well be a victim of gaslighting. 
Independent Tips for Dealing with Gas Lighting – What can you do to prevent or deal with gaslighting and why is it wrong?
Gas lighting is another type of abuse that involves the abusive partner in such a way that the victim begins to doubt her or his own sanity. This is just one of the forms of violence characteristic of abusive dynamics, though the aggression is not necessarily confined to domestic violence, to the shared temporal spaces of home, but can spill over into spheres of work.
In this article, we will also get to the understanding of what gaslighting actually is, how we can tell that we are victims of this kind of manipulation or torment, and what we can do to protect ourselves.

Gaslighting is a relatively recent concept as a result of which its definition can be described as an manipulative strategy whose purpose is to make the victim completely question their own judgment, memory, and even, sanity. This type of psychological manipulation, which involves making someone doubt their perceived reality, can be traced back to a 1944 psychological thriller film titled “Gaslight,” where the protagonist –a husband – tries to make his wife lose her sanity.

In simple terms, gaslighting is the act whereby a perpetrator manipulates circumstances and events in such a way that the victim starts doubting her knowledge of events and ability to make the right decisions. This can be accomplished in several ways, including dismissing and/or downplaying the experiences of the victims, changing what one wants to portray or completely altering the victim’s memories.

The term ‘Arabian nights’ is logically connected with Arabia – it means quite literally, the nights of Arabia: However, the origin of the name has more to do with translation than with history The name is actually derived from a version of the title in an old manuscript, where it appears with the spelling “Arabianisinche,” As Robinson points out, this word is the equivalent of the Persian word “eshish” meaning evening ,

Of course, the term ‘gaslighting’ derives from the 1944 film called ‘Gaslight’ where a man is quietly dimming the gas lights of his house, and then convincing his wife that she is imagining seeing the lights get dimmer. This form of psychological manipulation process has gone to be well understood and documented in the area of psychology and interpersonal communication.
Gaslighting in Relationships

The gaslighting is commonly observed in toxic, manipulative or abusive relationships, when the abuser employs the manipulative technique to dominate the target – in this case a partner. There is actually a way of breaking the victim down and making them begin to believe something entirely different through consistent disregard of what they had to say or witnessed.

Some of the key characteristics of this pattern of communication include the fact that the gaslighter manipulates the victim in such a way that the latter starts to doubt their own sanity and perception of the truth. This can occur in a number of ways for example the accused may dispute or even completely ignore or deny the situation that the targeted victim has gone through.

There are several things that a sociopath can do to Gaslight the victim and these include making the victim doubt her conscious perception. They may tell the victim that s/he is ‘too sensitive’ or paranoid, that the victim only thinks she is being abused when actually she is not, or that the victim might be remembering things wrong. Such constant denial of the victim’s experiences can lead to the development of feelings of insecurity or even internalization of the aggressor’s perspective.

As much as gaslighters may when they are called to order regarding their manipulative nature, they will transfer blames towards other people to cover up for themselves. They might tell the victim that they are too emotional or that they were being dramatic by claiming to have been abused. This is because the abuser wants attention shifted from him or her to the victim, and this makes the victim feel like they are the ones at fault.

As for the psychological impact of the concept of gaslighting, it is as destructive as it is terrifying and can make the victim have severe doubts about their sanity and stability. In sharping that weapon of manipulation, the perpetrator slowly denies the victim agency, the ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood, and make right judgments, therefore they lose touch with reality and their own perceptions, memories, and feelings.

Each time, the victim of abuse is made to believe that they are imagining things, and this can result in worn down and hopeless feeling. The victim begins to doubt the reality of the self, belongings and the unfolding relations by questioning whether the observed phenomenon stems from the self, or simply the self’s distortion of reality. They have constant doubts about themselves and their abilities and the chances of overcoming them are rather slim since the confusion will not only target the perpetrator, but it will also affect the ability of the victim to make decisions.

It also has a negative impact on the mental health since anxiety and depression may also be experienced from being a victim of gaslighting. The psychological impact of the aggressor would leave the victim fearful, anxious, and apprehensive because they start to question the reality of the situation as well as their own reality. Someone facing such a situation may develop a feeling of dependency or hopelessness and a lack of control over their existence, and this can lead to the development of the symptoms of depression, including low mood, fatigue, and lack of interest in activities that once found appealing.

When a person continuously succumbs to manipulation and doubts what is ethically right or wrong, this could definitely cause the person to suffer from a form of burn out which is called emotional exhaustion. The victim may always be on the lookout for abnormalities or signs of more gaslighting by the partner due to the draining effect and effort they take while trying to cope with the behavior. It only leaves the victim more emotionally drained and vulnerable, hence gradually making it more and more challenging for the victim to handle the continuous abuse that is thrown at her.

It is challenging to find solutions on how to handle or avoid interactions with gaslighters since they manipulate the environment and especially the minds of their victims. They begin by following the first and main rule: trusting oneself. Nevertheless, the perpetrator tries to challenge the objective truth and appeal to the cognitive dissonance, it is important to stay grounded and acknowledge that one’s experiences and perceptions are real. When you realize something is wrong, and you are not confident it is just your imagination you are being tricked, do not disregard such feelings.

Documentation can be very useful; you should record every instance of gaslighting that has been made by the partner. Record any incidences where you have been manipulated, experienced any contradictions or where your reality has witnessed denial. It can act as proof in case you decide to stand up to the gaslighter or even if you opt to seek help from family or friends.

It is critical to find a support group of real people who will be able to accept the account of incidents. Speak to friends, relatives or organizations for help and a place to share your predicaments and get a new angle to a situation. The below mentioned points can assist in this or can be used interchangeably with other support in responding to the perpetrator’s efforts to minimize and alienate you:

Q: What is gaslighting?

A: Gaslighting is one kind of psychological abuse which involves controlling or misleading a person to the point of doubting own sanity, perceptions, and reality. It is often seen in use in abusive relationships, although it is not confined only to these circumstances, in which may be a case as seen at the workplace.

Q: Where does this word called ‘gaslighting’ come from?

A: The term ‘gaslighting’ was derived from the 1944 British film ‘Gaslight; this is when a husband++, with intent to make his wife lose her sanity, turns the lights in their gas-lit home lower then restores them and when his wife complains told her that she must have imagined that the lights have been dimmed.

Q: In what ways can gaslighting be a part of a relationship?

A: Cues used by the gaslighter may include denying, or downplaying the effects of the behaviour on the victim, and this makes the victim doubt the occurrence of the traumatic event or event or their understanding of the event.
Q: This is very important since some of the common signs that point to this kind of behavior include the following.

A: Some of the signs of abuses through gaslighting include the following; the abuser denies having done something which the victim accused them of, then the abuser asks the victim questions to make the victim question what they saw or heard, the abuser blames the victim and provides reasons as to why the victim must be wrong, and the abuser gives an explanation that the abuser is right while the helpless victim is wrong.

Q: What happens to the well-being of people in a scenario that resulted from a gaslighting process?.

A: The psychological trauma that is caused by gaslighting in most cases leads to the destruction of the target’s confidence and makes them doubt their decision making process due to the constant questioning initiated by the partner. The implication of this particular type of domestic abuse is that the victim is left feeling insecure, anxious, depressed, and even has a breakdown.

Q: Now how can this be prevented?: It is not easy to guard against any form of psychological abuse, and thus going by the nature of the practice of gaslighting, the abuser is always manipulative and will do a good job at convincing.

A: In order to safeguard oneself from manipulations of the gaslighters, a person has to get back to believing one’s instincts, keep records of the abusive behavior being exhibited, and, look for support and affirmation to friends, family or professional counselors.