Strategies for Dealing with Gaslighting

Gaslighting often presents itself through comments that make you doubt yourself, and your job is to recognize these warning signs to stand up for yourself.

The key is not to react immediately, but to take a moment to reflect, seek support from people you trust, and validate your own perception of the situation.

Most of the time, manipulative comments are a mixture of truth and distortion, making them confusing and difficult to counter instantly.

Recognizing manipulative comments

Gaslighting comments have a common structure that you must learn to recognize.

Often, they make you doubt your memory, your reaction, or your interpretation of an event.

For example, they may tell you that you are "too sensitive" or that you are "overreacting," causing you to question your emotional reaction.

Another common tactic is to deny an event that happened, saying "I never said that" or "things didn't happen that way."

What all of these tactics have in common is that they deflect blame from the manipulator and make you feel that the problem lies with you.

The manipulator does not take his or her share of responsibility for the situation.

The value of distance and reflection

The best way to deal with gaslighting is to create space between the situation and your reaction.

You can say something like "I need to process this for a while, I'll get back to you later" or "This conversation is difficult for me, I'd like to take a break and continue it another time."

These phrases give you time to reassess the situation calmly and without the pressure of the moment, allowing you to return to the conversation from a position of greater safety.

Summary

To deal with gaslighting, you must