Mental manipulation is the most insidious type of psychological violence – so insidious and subtle that we often have no idea what someone is doing to us. We notice only the result – self-doubt, lack of self-esteem, self-confidence. Unfortunately, when we start seeing this, it means that the damage to our psyche has already been done and all we can do at this stage is try to reduce the negative consequences somehow, although it is not exactly as easy as playing super porn games.
Life is often not fair, and sometimes even the best people can have bad things happen. And one of the worst is the most dangerous technique of manipulation – the one in which a person leads us to start questioning our mind. However, it is possible to recognize this technique in time and start with the defense, of course, if we know how to do it.
How to sow the seeds of doubt
This technique is called Gaslighting. In 1938, a play called Gas Light was shown in the theater for the first time. The play shows a man who is continually trying to convince his wife and mutual friends that she is crazy, and he does that by making small changes in the atmosphere at home.
When the wife starts noticing, the husband tries to convince her that things have always been the way she sees them now. The woman slowly begins to doubt her mind and her ability to perceive reality. One of the husband’s most characteristic actions was that he dimmed the gas lamp that burned in the room every time the woman left the room, and in fact, this led to the fact that this manipulative behavior is now called “gaslighting”.
Our reality has always been and will be subjective
In the play, the key to everything was the husband’s ability to change how his wife experienced reality very subtly. She could see that after she returned to the room, the lamp did not burn as intensely as before, but her husband said it had been burning just like that from the moment it was turned on. Why did he do that? Because he tried to make her doubt the perception of the world around her and, accordingly, the health of her own mind. For him, it was funny, like playing awesome free adult games.
We tend to trust close people. Therefore, this is a very insidious form of mental violence, which often goes unnoticed by the victim, who does not even realize it is possible. For the manipulator, “gaslighting” is simply another way to gain complete control over the victim. Today, light gaslighting is sometimes used even in some television commercials.
Lighting in our lives
The situation that made us write this article was what happened to one beautiful woman. She recently broke up with a man who didn’t deserve her from the start. People tried to explain to her that there will always be those in our lives who try to bring us down to their level and that the best thing we can do in return is not to allow that.
Which reaction is correct?
In short, you should not fall prey to manipulative attempts to convince you that black is white and that your eyes cannot be trusted. The fact is that there are many people in this world who, when they see a beautiful unicorn, immediately think: Alas, what a lovely unicorn. It is a pity that I will never become even remotely like him.
