Gaslighting: What It Is and How to Reclaim Your Reality

Gaslighting is one of the most disorienting and painful forms of emotional abuse and it often leaves you questioning your own thoughts, feelings, and memory. It’s a form of manipulation that chips away at your trust in yourself, leaving you feeling unsure, confused, and like you're “too sensitive” or “always overreacting.”

It usually doesn’t always start with screaming or threats. It starts with subtle denial:
“I never said that.”
“You’re imagining things.”
“You’re just being dramatic.”

And over time, you start to wonder if maybe they’re right.

What Gaslighting Really Does to You

The most harmful part of gaslighting isn’t the words themselves, it’s how they disconnect you from your own inner truth.

You might begin second-guessing your memories, questioning whether your feelings are valid, or apologizing even when you’ve done nothing wrong. It can make you feel like you're constantly walking on eggshells, not just around others, but inside your own mind.

That constant self-doubt is what keeps people stuck in toxic relationships. Because if you can’t trust yourself… who can you trust?

How to Know If You’ve Been Gaslit

Gaslighting can be incredibly subtle. Some common signs include:

• You feel confused after conversations, like things got twisted but you can't explain how

• You constantly apologize or feel like you’re always at fault

• You start hiding your feelings or questioning whether they’re “too much”

• You second-guess your perception of events

• You rely on others to tell you what’s true or what happened

These are not signs of weakness. They are signs that you’ve been manipulated into losing touch with your own truth and that can be undone.

Reclaiming Your Voice and Reality

The healing process starts by validating your experience. What you felt was real. What you saw, heard, and needed, all of that matters. Therapy can help you reconnect to your internal compass and rebuild the self-trust that gaslighting may have taken away.

You don’t have to figure it all out overnight. Reclaiming your reality is a slow and steady process of reconnecting with your body, your emotions, and your sense of worth. You’re allowed to trust yourself again. You’re allowed to believe your story, even if someone tried to convince you it wasn’t true.

If you’re struggling with gaslighting or feeling disconnected from your truth, you don’t have to sort through it alone. Explore how I support women in rebuilding self-trust after emotional abuse here.

This blog is for informational purposes only and does not replace professional therapy or crisis intervention.

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