According to Psychology Today, gaslighting is a sneaky and insidious form of psychological manipulation. It makes you question your own memories, judgment, and even your sanity. If your partner, friend, or family member repeatedly makes you feel confused or like you can’t trust your own instincts, you’re not imagining it. Below are some of the most common lies gaslighters use to undermine your reality, and more importantly, how to start reclaiming your sense of self.
1. “You’re being dramatic.”
They dismiss your valid feelings and make you feel like you’re overreacting. This plants the seed of doubt – maybe you ARE crazy for being upset? Their goal is to make you feel small for having normal reactions, which makes you less likely to challenge them in the future.
2. “That never happened.”
They flat-out deny something they did or said, even if you have proof. They chip away at your memory, making you wonder if you’re just remembering things wrong. They know if you doubt your own experiences, you’ll be easier to control.
3. “I never said that.”
This goes hand-in-hand with denying their actions. According to Verywell Mind, they rewrite history and leave you confused and unsure of what the truth even is anymore. This tactic aims to shatter your sense of reality and makes you dependent on them to tell you how things are.
4. “You’re so sensitive.”
They turn your emotional responses into a character flaw. When you call out their hurtful behavior, they make it seem like the problem is you, not them. They want you to believe that having healthy emotional reactions is a sign of weakness.
5. “You’re imagining things.”
This is a go-to for gaslighting. They undermine your perceptions, implying that your experiences aren’t real or valid. They want you to doubt your own senses. Once they convince you can’t trust your own mind, they’ve gained immense power over you.
6. “Everyone else thinks you’re crazy.”
They try to isolate you, making you feel like the whole world sees you as unstable. This tactic further erodes your trust in your own judgment. They want to cut you off from sources of support, so you become reliant on them for validation.
7. “You have a terrible memory.”
They attack your ability to recall things that happened accurately. The goal is to make you doubt whether you can trust even your own basic memory. They want you to second-guess yourself constantly, always relying on them for the “correct” version of events.
8. “You’re just trying to hurt me.”
They weaponize guilt, flipping the script to make YOU the bad guy for daring to confront them. This deflects blame and shuts down the conversation. They want you to feel so guilty for questioning them that you’ll drop it to avoid that uncomfortable feeling.
9. “You’re the one with the problem.”
They project their own issues onto you. This keeps them from facing their own shortcomings and makes you question if maybe they’re right. If they can convince you that you’re the broken one, they’ll never have to look critically at themselves.
10. “I was just joking!”
They hide cruel jabs, insults, and put-downs as humor. When you rightfully react, they accuse you of not being able to take a joke. This blurs the line between playful teasing and intentional hurt, leaving you unsure of what’s okay and what’s not.
11. “Why are you getting so worked up?”
They minimize your upset when they’ve clearly pushed your buttons. This makes you feel like your reactions are unreasonable and unwarranted. Their goal is for you to suppress your feelings to keep them comfortable.
12. “You’re always twisting my words.”
When you confront them about something directly, they manipulate the conversation to make it seem like YOU’RE the one misinterpreting them. It’s a way to dodge taking responsibility for what they actually meant.
13. “You need to relax.”
They dismiss your concerns by suggesting you’re too stressed or uptight. This implies the problem is your attitude, not their harmful behavior. This discourages you from addressing real problems because you start to believe you’re always the one overreacting.
14. “You’re overthinking it.”
They make you feel silly for trying to analyze their words or actions. Gaslighters want you to stop looking for deeper meaning so you’ll ignore their subtle manipulations.
15. “Stop being so insecure.”
They attack your vulnerabilities to deflect from their actions. When you express hurt, they criticize your insecurities instead of genuinely addressing your feelings. This shames you into silence, preventing you from calling out their behavior in the future.
16. “Why would I do that?”
They feign innocence, making you question if you’re paranoid or if they genuinely don’t understand why their actions were harmful. This plants the idea that you might be misinterpreting things based on past baggage, not their current behavior.
17. “You’re too controlling.”
When you try to set healthy boundaries or express your needs, they label you as controlling. This turns your act of self-preservation into a character defect. They want you to feel like your basic needs are unreasonable so that you’ll stop expecting them to change.
18. “I love you, why can’t you see that?”
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They weaponize love to make you question your judgment. They imply that if you truly loved them, you’d overlook their questionable behavior and accept the “truth” they feed you. This makes you question whether your perceptions of their actions can be right if they claim to love you.
