The Origins of the Word “Gaslighting”: Scenes from the 1944 Film
You’re not going out of your mind. You’re slowly and systematically being driven out of your mind. — Joseph Cotton to Ingrid Bergman in the 1944 film Gaslight . Remember when the word “gaslighting” elicited knowing nods from black and white film buffs… and blank stares from pretty much everyone else? Then along came 2016, and gaslighting entered the lexicon in a big way. Merriam-Webster defines it as the “psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one’s emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator.” Of course, you knew that already! “Gaslighting” is unavoidable these days, five years after it was named 2016’s “most useful” and “likely to succeed” word by the American Dialect Society ....
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