In most cases, the approach to violence is made from the explicit and the obvious, that is, when the physical makes its appearance. However, the possibility of providing help is overlooked when we are dealing with much more subtle situations, such as gaslighting .
Invisible, continuous, repetitive, subtle and indirect : there lies the greatest problem of this type of violence, which manages to blur the figure of the abuser, the one who becomes a victim.
What is gaslighting?
The Gaslighting is a form of emotional abuse that is to confuse the victim, to the extent that ends doubting herself and her view of things.
The term comes from a play, written by the playwright Patrick Hamilton and called “Gaslight” , in which the husband tries to convince his wife that she is crazy, using different manipulative resources to make her doubt her sanity. and close loved ones.
It is characterized by being subtle and from there derives the complexity to detect it, since the victim is already in a loop in which everything he perceives, doubts it. Facts and thoughts are questioned.
One of the difficulties in recognizing that it is gaslighting is that the people who are involved mean the different episodes as typical of relationship problems. In other words, it is not recognized as a one-off phenomenon, but as part of day-to-day conflicts.
In these cases, we speak of a desensitization of violence, which happens when everyday violence becomes naturalized at an emotional and cognitive level.
Gaslightees is the name used to identify the victims of this phenomenon, while gaslighters is the one used to name the person responsible.
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