Gaslighting articles, books, and podcasts seem to be everywhere. This term has caught the popular imagination perhaps because of our current political and social media environment that often depicts perpetrators as victims and victims as perpetrators. No wonder we are confused and exhausted! You probably know a gaslighter, know someone who is a target of one or have been a gaslighting target yourself. By understanding how gaslighters operate, you can protect yourself from being manipulated. The term gaslighting came about because of a 1944 Ingrid Bergman movie called Gaslight in which a husband tried to convince a wife she was crazy by dimming the gas lamps at night and then telling her that he hadn’t noticed them coming on and she was imagining it. His real aim was to convince her she was crazy so he could hospitalize her and take her house. Today, psychologists define gaslighting as a manipulative technique that gets you to question your own view of reality, so you don’t trust your own perceptions and experiences. You end up feeling confused, …