Important- wish i had learned about this a long time ago.

I will ALWAYS reblog stuff about gaslighting. I’ve been affected by it as others I know. And I don’t wish it on anyone.

This is a wonderfully direct comic about such a complicated confusing issue.  And as a mentally ill person who has some memory issues, it can sometimes be hard to fully wrap my head around when “I didn’t say that” conversations become gaslighting. Abuse can be very subtle, and said with the most sympathetic tone!  And gaslighting is about using someone’s doubts of their memories and experience of reality as a tool for manipulation, not simply addressing those doubts, which many of us have.

So if you are fearing that someone is gaslighting you, trust your instincts, and pay attention to why that person is correcting you … are they trying to escape responsibility for hurting you?  Are they trying to use the correction to push you into an action you aren’t sure about?  Are they trying to make you feel guilty that your memories don’t match theirs?  These are all red flags!   But if that person is just trying to straighten out the details of an event, or clarify their intentions and apologize for causing harm, then it’s probably not manipulative.  Just ask - do they want me to trust myself?