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Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse where the victim is led to question their reality. According to US magazine Psychology Today, it's "an insidious form of manipulation and psychological control". The definition continues: "Victims of gaslighting are deliberately and systematically fed false information that leads them to question what they know to be true, often about themselves. They may end up doubting their memory, their perception, and even their sanity. Over time, a gaslighter's manipulations can grow more complex and potent, making it increasingly difficult for the victim to see the truth."

The kinds of false information fed by an abuser to their victim include denials, misdirection and blatant lies, for example items being moved by the abuser and the victim told they must be forgetful or mistaken, the abuser denying knowledge of things the victims said or denying that events – such as verbal or physical abuse – ever happened.

Gas Light is both a play and a playbook

Ground zero for gaslighting is Patrick Hamilton's 1938 play Gas Light. Set in the upper middle-class home of Jack and Bella Manningham in the London of 1880, the play centres around Jack's unexplained absences from the family home and Bella's resulting unease.

Bella hears footsteps from the upstairs apartment and notices the gas lights in their apartment dim every now and then. These are direct consequences of Jack's disappearances, but Jack manipulates both these happenings to convince Bella that she is going insane, establishing a 'gaslighting' playbook.

In 1940, the play Gas Light was made into a British film, Gaslight, starring Anton Walbrook and Diana Wynyard. Four years later, MGM released a bigger budget version starring Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman.

While the 1940 version stuck closely to the stage play, the 1944 film cast Bella as a young opera singer called Paula (Bergman, who won an Oscar in the role) who, after a personal tragedy, embarks on a whirlwind romance and marries a musician called Gregory (Boyer).

In a massive twist of irony, MGM tried to get all of the prints of the 1940 film destroyed to give its film a clear run.

In one scene of the 1944 version of Gaslight, Paula says to Gregory: "Are you trying to tell me I'm insane?", to which he replies: "Now, perhaps you will understand why I cannot let you meet people?"

It's a snapshot of how, once doubts have been raised by lies and misdirection, the abuser doubles down on the victim to undermine their self-esteem and prolong the period of time that they are reliant on them alone.

Mental health awareness put more focus on gaslighting

While we think of gaslighting as coming into our vernacular comparatively recently, it has appeared in a several academic studies since being birthed in fiction. The momentum behind its use increased in the early 2010s, put down to the heightened awareness of mental health issues, and it was enshrined as part of UK criminal domestic violence law in 2015.

The notion of gaslighting has been applied retrospectively to a number of historical events and figures. One of these is Mary Magdalene, as comedian Luisa Omielan discusses in her 主播大秀 Radio 4 series Gaslit, Groomed and Ghosted.

Although the New Testament says nothing about her being a prostitute, Mary Magdalene has been regarded as such by a series of church leaders. Some commentators argue that Mary has been conflated with other figures from the Bible to essentially 'slut-shame' her – considered as another form of gaslighting – and diminish her importance, detracting from her status as a woman of independent means who travelled with Jesus, was a witness to his crucifixion and, crucially, was the first person to see him after his resurrection.

Gaslighting has been represented in popular culture countless times

A truth born from fiction, gaslighting has continued to be portrayed in popular culture, as television producer and writer John Yorke explored in his 主播大秀 Radio 4 series Opening Lines.

A number of examples are centred around abusive relationships, such as Trevor and Little Mo in EastEnders (during Yorke's time overseeing the soap) in the early 2000s. This plot saw Little Mo (played by Kacey Ainsworth) hit Trevor with an iron in self-defence and later be charged with attempted murder (although she was later acquitted).

Long-running 主播大秀 Radio 4 drama The Archers featured a similarly hard-hitting storyline about the domestic abuse inflicted on Helen Titchener by her husband Rob (played by Louiza Patikas and Timothy Watson) for several years from 2014. The storyline saw the controlling Rob continually undermining Helen's self-confidence and mental state, and ended in Helen stabbing her abusive husband.

Timothy Watson and Louiza Patikas as Rob and Helen Titchener

The recent movie remake of The Invisible Man, starring Mad Men's Elizabeth Moss, catalogued a number of gaslighting tactics, including the exercise of financial control through using the promise of an inheritance. Meanwhile, a different twist on gaslighting was portrayed in the 2000 film Memento, where the lead character (played by Guy Pearce) essentially gaslights himself over the death of his wife.

Even more recently, coercive control was explored in the 2022 thriller Don't Worry Darling, starring Florence Pugh, and 2023's Alice, Darling, with Anna Kendrick as the woman pushed to breaking point by her psychologically abusive boyfriend.

Last December, American dictionary Merriam-Webster made gaslighting (which it defines as "the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one's own advantage.") its word of the year after a 1,740% increase in online searches for it. It's not the first time gaslighting has been highlighted in this way – Oxford Dictionaries had it down as one of their buzzwords of 2018.

Listen to the full series of 主播大秀 Radio 4's modern adapation of Gaslight, which features bonus scenes that add background to the drama, on 主播大秀 Sounds.