What is 'gaslighting' ?

[Fireinthegrate]

As title.
Thanks.

Something to do with narcissism. I think its where you shower a person with attention to then take it away?

Manipulating someone into them thinking they are crazy.

Called gaslighting because in old days of gas lights, a husband convinced his wife she was crazy by dimming the lights and telling her they were just as bright. Basically it's when one party tells lies or bends truth to make the other party question their own mind.

Eh.
Man - where are my shoes? I asked you to put them out
Woman - no recollection of being asked, and now in trouble for not doing as asked

Fact is he never asked. He is beating her self esteem and confidence.

It comes from an old film, Gaslight, with Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Angela Lansbury. The husband wants his wife to think she is going mad and suffering delusions, can't remember the motive.

It's from an old film called Gaslight where a husband tries to convince his wife she is mad by, for example, hiding a precious necklace and then making her believe she must have lost it somewhere in one of her regular crazy spells.

It's actually called Gaslight because he used to go out every night and leave her alone in the house. Every night her lights would flicker and she would hear bangs and crashses, thus adding to her belief she was crazy. In fact, he was only pretending to go out, he was actually in the attic looking for her long lost family loot. The lights dimmed because he switched the gas light on in attic when he was trying to find the treasure.

The arse.