To be sick of the word gaslighting?

[NotOneOfTheInCrowd]

Thats it.

Every time someone has an experience they don’t like they say they’re being gaslighted.

People need to and look up the meaning of the word, because by throwing it around so casually has led to the trivialisation of genuine abuse.

Oh the families who are 'toxic' and you must go no contact with them because, just like all humans, they are a bit flawed and not perfect

Toxic I tell you!

Yes, there are a lot of words that have changed meaning.
Think of 'mental health' replacing 'mental illness' as a descriptor, - I think it has made a lot of people with boarderline cases opt in to the category, someone who is a bit anxious would now have poor mental health.

Is the same true of data being reduced to ‘95% of all…..’?!

The loss of any real meaning from so many words is annoying but I'd argue that gaslighting is a particularly unfortunate one. Given that its true meaning refers to a form of coercive control, people should really understand what gaslighting actually is and use the word precisely so the behaviour can be spotted when it occurs.

Another good one. Relationships can’t just end because they didn’t work out. One party has to have been ‘abusive’

DSM definition of the word trauma:

Exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence in one (or more) of the following ways: Directly experiencing the traumatic event(s). Witnessing, in person, the event(s) as it occurred to others. Learning that the traumatic event(s) occurred to a close family member or close friend

"PTSD" is absurdly overused. You are upset/sad/stressed about something bad that happened. That does not necessarily mean you have PSTD, an actual clinical condition.

It is another word - add it to 'narcissist' - which is basically meaningless when used on this site. Posters on this site described themselves as being 'gaslighted' when what has actually happened is someone has disagreed with them.

Can I please add people stating that they were “crying and shaking” because they were so upset, usually over something pretty trivial. Where has people’s resilience gone?

Please add ‘spiralling’ to that 🙄

I agree, it was a useful word to describe a specific form of abuse whereby someone comes to mistrust their own version of reality through a deliberate campaign of lying and confusion from the abus

Not only does it not mean being lied to, it doesn't even mean someone lied to you and then pretended they didn't. It's more than that.

Triggered

Sick of seeing people get triggered all the time

And seeing TW in titles

'Triggered' now just seems to mean 'reminded of something'.

I said this to my last therapist. I said ‘I know the word narcissist is thrown around far too nonchalantly …. But my ex genuinely was a textbook narcissist.’ Thankfully she agreed!

I have noticed that many British people seem unable to construct a sentence without using the words 'vulnerable', 'safeguarding' or 'proper'.

In the same vein can we add "terrified"

There's a free bbc podcast of the radio play too if you're interested.

I also like 'fuming', as in "I'm fuming on your behalf, OP" - although it does conjure the amusing image of people sitting in front of their screens bright red with rage over a stranger's anecdotes.

Can we add 'literally'?

I literally died laughing at that.

<< Typing from beyond the grave, obvs >> 👻

And 'waltzing'.

"Husband waltzed in at midnight".

If I was their neighbour I'd be up at the window, making a TikTok 👀🕺

I'm genuinely peeved at the change of the meaning of literally. It was such a useful word.

These changes of meaning just seem to make language less precise.

I also wish we could still use 'one' , as in ' When one goes to the park..' 'You' causes confusion because its unclear if you are meaning the person you are talking to or using a plural 'you', as in 'one'..

The film Gaslight doesn't actually exist.

[sound of crickets]

😂

Gaslighting is fine when applied correctly. Usually it’s not.

I would also put narcissist in this bucket. Also introvert to describe a person who hates their neighbours and feels furiously violated when invited out for a drink or a meal.

And bitchy or cliquey to describe any woman you meet at or around school who appears to have more friends than you.

These are words which have passed into the lexicon in a distorted form.

Fuming is different, everyone knows what it means. I just find it irritating. But it does what it says on the tin.

I am still sad that the word "awesome" has changed beyond the point of ever going back.