Gaslighting Parents

Talk Your Heart Out21 Dec, 2022Other

?Gaslighting? refers to a form of manipulation where someone attempts to convince another that their reality is inaccurate (Riggs and Bartholomaeus, 2018). This results in one questioning their own beliefs, feelings, and perceptions. One of the most commonly faced phenomena is parental gaslighting, where our parents either consciously or unconsciously attempt to influence our subjective experience or perception of reality. Growing up, our parents or primary caretakers are the first role models in our lives. We adopt their beliefs and understand the world through the lenses they equip us with. Most importantly, because attachment to parents is an innate need for children, we learn to adapt to our parents to preserve this. Here is where gaslighting becomes a little trickier. We could be growing up with parents who have been gaslighting us, and we could have even adapted to them without knowing.