Where it sits
Today the word gets used along this whole line. Its original, clinical sense sits at the far end.
Tell it apart
| Aspect | Gaslighting | Lying |
|---|---|---|
| Aims at | Your trust in your own mind | Your belief about one thing |
| Needs a false statement | Not always | Yes |
| Timescale | Usually a pattern, over time | Can be a single act |
| Typical result | Self-doubt and confusion | A false belief |
A lie targets a fact. Gaslighting targets the person's confidence that they can know facts at all. Many lies are not gaslighting, and gaslighting does not always need a lie: denial, 'you're too sensitive', and brushing someone's concerns aside can do the same work.
| Aspect | Gaslighting | Manipulation |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | One specific kind | The whole category |
| Works on | Memory, perception, judgement | Choices and feelings |
| Timescale | Usually over time | Any |
| Typical result | Doubting yourself | Doing what they want |
Manipulation is the wide family: flattery, guilt, pressure, playing on fears. Gaslighting is one narrow member of it, the kind that works by making someone doubt their own perception and memory, usually over a long period.
What it doesn't mean
Lying aims to make you believe a particular thing. Gaslighting aims at your trust in your own memory and perception. Kate Abramson, author of On Gaslighting, has pointed out that liars may or may not be gaslighting; an ordinary liar is just trying to get you to believe something.
The film shows a deliberate scheme, but real cases vary. A Cleveland Clinic psychologist notes that the person doing it may or may not realise it, and the sociologist Paige Sweet says it is often a defence mechanism used to wield power rather than pure malice.
The play and the films supplied the image, not the word. 'Gaslighting' does not appear in them; Merriam-Webster's first known use is from 1961.
What it really means
Gaslighting is the slow work of making someone distrust their own mind. It is not about winning one argument. Over time, the person on the receiving end stops trusting what they saw, heard or remember, and starts relying on the other person's version instead.
The word is a title. In Patrick Hamilton's 1938 play Gas Light, and the films of 1940 and 1944, a husband tries to convince his wife she is going mad: the lamps dim while he searches the attic, and he tells her she is imagining it. Merriam-Webster's first known use of gaslighting is from 1961. In 1969 Russell Barton and J. A. Whitehead described "the gas-light phenomenon" in The Lancet: cases of people trying to get someone wrongly committed to a psychiatric hospital. In 2019 the sociologist Paige Sweet argued that gaslighting is "primarily a sociological rather than a psychological phenomenon", because it is rooted in social inequalities, including gender.
Then the word went mainstream. Merriam-Webster made it Word of the Year for 2022 and now records a second, broader sense: grossly misleading someone for your own advantage. That spread has a cost. The psychologist Nick Haslam named this kind of widening of harm-related ideas concept creep. Cleveland Clinic notes that the word is often overused for lying, guilt-tripping or shaming. Robin Stern, author of The Gaslight Effect, told NPR: "Gaslighting is not a disagreement." Kate Abramson, author of On Gaslighting, warned: "If everything gets called gaslighting, nobody takes it seriously anymore." Someone remembering an evening differently from you is not gaslighting you. A sustained pattern of telling you that your memory cannot be trusted is closer to what the word was made for.
If this sounds familiar. This page explains a word; it is not a diagnosis of you or of anyone else. If you keep finding yourself doubting your own memory around one person, or feel cut off from people who could give you a second view, it's reasonable to talk to someone you trust, a counsellor, or a domestic-abuse service in your country. In the US, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 800.799.SAFE (7233). This page is educational and isn't a substitute for professional support.
Where it comes from
title of Patrick Hamilton's 1938 play
turns the verb 'to gaslight' into the name of an action
The word is a title turned into a verb. In the story, the gas lamps dim whenever the husband is secretly searching the attic, and he insists his wife is imagining it.
- 1938
Patrick Hamilton's play Gas Light is first staged in London. A husband tries to make his wife believe she is losing her mind; the play itself never uses the word 'gaslighting'.
- 1940 and 1944
Two films follow: a British version directed by Thorold Dickinson (1940), and MGM's Gaslight directed by George Cukor (1944), for which Ingrid Bergman won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
- 1961
Merriam-Webster's first known use of 'gaslighting'. NPR traces the verb to the anthropologist Anthony Wallace's book Culture and Personality, published that year.
- 1969
Russell Barton and J. A. Whitehead publish 'The gas-light phenomenon' in The Lancet: case reports of people trying to have someone wrongly committed to a psychiatric hospital.
- 1981
V. Calef and E. M. Weinshel publish 'Some clinical consequences of introjection: gaslighting' in The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, a psychoanalytic paper with the word in its title.
- 2007
Robin Stern's book The Gaslight Effect takes the idea to a general readership.
- 2019
Paige L. Sweet's 'The Sociology of Gaslighting' (American Sociological Review) argues it is rooted in social inequalities, including gender, and not only in individual psychology.
- 2022
Merriam-Webster names 'gaslighting' its Word of the Year on 28 November, after a 1740% rise in lookups, calling it 'a word for our time' in an age of misinformation.
In real life
- In the 1944 film, the gas lamps dim while the husband is secretly in the attic, and he tells his wife she is imagining it. The word comes from the title of the play and its films.
- She started keeping notes after their arguments, because each time he told her the conversation had never happened, she trusted her memory a little less.
- "The council is gaslighting residents about the bus cuts," the letter said. That is the newer, looser sense: misleading people on a large scale for your own advantage.
Questions
Q01Is gaslighting always intentional?
Not necessarily, and experts describe it differently. Robin Stern, author of The Gaslight Effect, calls it a deliberate effort to undermine someone's reality. The Cleveland Clinic psychologist Chivonna Childs notes that the person doing it may or may not realise it, and the sociologist Paige Sweet says it is often a defence mechanism used to wield power rather than pure malice. Either way, the effect on the person receiving it can be confusing and damaging. Naming the pattern is not a diagnosis of anyone.
Q02Can gaslighting happen outside romantic relationships?
Yes. Cleveland Clinic lists the workplace, the doctor's office, family and friendships as well as romantic relationships. 'Medical gaslighting' is the term patients use when doctors dismiss their symptoms as minor or primarily psychological, and the sociologist Jennifer Sebring has argued that it is built into health-care systems, not only individual appointments. Merriam-Webster also notes a broader political use, for deception that is part of a larger plan.
Q03Where does the word gaslighting come from?
From Patrick Hamilton's 1938 play Gas Light and its 1940 and 1944 films, in which a husband tries to convince his wife she is going mad. The gas lamps dim while he searches the attic, and he insists she is imagining it. The word itself first appears in 1961, according to Merriam-Webster, and the idea appeared in medical writing in 1969, in a Lancet paper on 'the gas-light phenomenon'.
Q04Is gaslighting abuse?
In its original sense, health and domestic-abuse organisations describe it as a form of emotional abuse. The US National Domestic Violence Hotline and Cleveland Clinic both use that wording, and Paige Sweet's research treats it as psychological abuse. The word is also used more loosely, for a politician or company misleading the public, and that use is not a claim of abuse. Gaslighting names a behaviour; it is not a diagnosis or a mental-health condition.
Q05What if this sounds familiar?
If someone regularly leaves you doubting your own memory, or you feel cut off from people who could give you a second view, it is reasonable to talk it through with someone you trust outside the relationship, or with a counsellor or a domestic-abuse service in your country. In the US, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 800.799.SAFE (7233). This page is educational and isn't a substitute for professional support.
Sources
- gaslighting — Merriam-Webster Dictionary (definitions, word history, first known use 1961).
- Word of the Year 2022: gaslighting — Merriam-Webster.
- Merriam-Webster Announces 'Gaslighting' as the 2022 Word of the Year — press release, 28 November 2022.
- Barton R, Whitehead JA. The gas-light phenomenon. The Lancet, 1969 — PubMed.
- Calef V, Weinshel EM. Some clinical consequences of introjection: gaslighting. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 1981 — PubMed.
- Sweet PL. The Sociology of Gaslighting. American Sociological Review 84(5), 2019.
- Sebring JCH. Towards a sociological understanding of medical gaslighting in western health care. Sociology of Health & Illness, 2021 — PubMed.
- What is gaslighting? — National Domestic Violence Hotline.
- Gaslighting: Definition & How To Spot It — Cleveland Clinic (Chivonna Childs, PhD).
- Are you sure you know what 'gaslighting' is? — NPR, 25 March 2026.
- Origin of the Term Gaslighting — Simply Psychology.
- Haslam N. Concept Creep: Psychology's Expanding Concepts of Harm and Pathology. Psychological Inquiry 27(1), 2016.
- Gaslighting — Wikipedia (word history; the word does not appear in the play or films).
- Gas Light (the 1938 play) — Wikipedia.
- Gaslight (1944 film) — Wikipedia.
Words around it
- Love Bombinglove bombing works by flooding someone with warmth; gaslighting by wearing down their trust in their own perception. Both name patterns of behaviour, not diagnoses.
- Catfishingboth are deception, but catfishing fakes who someone is, while gaslighting goes after your confidence in what you know.
- BoundariesCleveland Clinic's guidance on gaslighting includes naming the behaviour when it happens, which it describes as a way of setting boundaries.