In 1944, the film Gaslight starring Ingrid Bergman was shown in cinemas. 80 years later “gaslighting” is more relevant than ever. “Gaslighting” means in psychology that someone manipulates someone else with lies, as a result of which the victim ends up doubting their own logic, memories and impressions. this term is often used to describe an interpersonal relationship – along with other concepts such as “ghosting”.

How did the term come about?

The term gaslighting was inspired by the play “Gas Light” by Patrick Hamilton (1904-1962), which has been made into a film several times. 80 years ago – in the summer of 1944 – the most famous film adaptation was screened: Gaslight (“Nightmare” in Greek) with Ingrid Bergman and Angela Lansbury, who made her first film appearance in this psychological thriller and was and nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

In this classic film, Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer) does everything to drive his wife, Paula Alqvist (Bergman), crazy. Crazy with her love for him, Pola does not want to believe that her husband is a thief and a murderer, that he killed her aunt, that his sole purpose is to take her jewels. On the evenings when Paula is alone, various strange things happen in the house, such as a gas lamp that flickers and goes out mysteriously (this lamp also refers to the title of the film), things that Paula cannot explain – and her husband he convinces her that it’s all a figment of her imagination. With the role of Paula Ahlqvist, Bergman won at the age of 29 the first of a total of three Oscars in her career.

The psychological abuse of gaslighting happens – just like in the film – often in the context of a closer relationship and over a long period of time. The victim is initially confused and after a while begins to doubt his own lucidity – and sometimes even ends up adopting the reality of the gaslighter.

Where does gaslighting occur?

A year and a half ago, the American Merriam-Webster dictionary named gaslighting its word of the year. The association of psychologists APA (American Psychological Association) emphasizes that gaslighting is a term that is used rather colloquially, although it sometimes appears in the literature of the field. Gaslighting tactics are usually followed by people with antisocial (even narcissistic) personality disorders, and the psychological effects can be very serious for the victims. Gaslighting is a phenomenon that can appear almost everywhere: in love, friendship and family relationships, but also in the media and politics, and even in medicine – when, for example, nurses or doctors think that all the symptoms reported by a person patient “is just in his head”.

Psychotherapist and best-selling author Bryant Welch noticed early on that a typical example of gaslighting is Trump’s tactics. As he analyzes in his book State of Confusion: Political Manipulation and the Assault on the American Mind, Trump constantly seeks to cause confusion, undermine trust in the mainstream media and constantly promotes his own worldview, indirectly passing on the world and the public opinion a false version of reality.

From sitcoms to colloquial speech

In 2017, journalism professor Ben Yagonda researched the history of the term gaslighting, finding that the word was used in various 1950s sitcoms in connection with Boyer’s behavior in Gaslight. In the following years, the term began to be used by scientists, while from the 1980s the use of the term expanded in colloquial speech.

Yagoda first heard the word in 1989 when he interviewed 19-year-old Uma Thurman for Rolling Stone. In the last eight years and since Donald Trump was elected to the US presidency, the term is now used almost every day.

Edited by: Giorgos Passas