Gaslighting is a technique of twisting and spinning information with the intent of making victims doubt their own perceptions and reality.
The term derives from a 1938 play, later adapted to the film Gas Light released in 1940 and 1944. The plot involves the psychological manipulation by a husband who attempts to convince his wife that she is insane. He manipulates aspects of their environment, and then insists that she is mistaken or delusional. The film title refers to his dimming the gas lights in the house, but the husband insists his wife just imagined the change.
One of my patients raised a searing question. Why did his ex-wife, his children, and his own siblings seem to hate him. “I must be doing something,” he said. Not really, I told him. Your family simply feels better by making you feel worse. They detect your vulnerability and project their own sense of inadequacy and insecurity onto you. They need to abuse you so they can feel better.
Joe R. Barrow has created one of the best dramatizations explaining Parental Alienation Syndrome, this adapted from a Hollywood production. START VIEWING AT BEGINNING
Mother brainwashed children over 5 years to hate their father and duped Fox 2 News station, children’s school, and thousands into supporting her. Fox News story irresponsibly misled many into believing this judge jailed children. The transcript supported these FACTS:
Kids sent to Mandy’s Place not Juvenile detention facility. Google it.
Father not abusive
Father does not live in Israel
Mother kidnapped children, hid in Michigan
Children are brainwashed
Mother driving the conflict
Mother was warned that children would be taken from her if she didn’t stop brainwashing children.
What does it feel like for each – an alienated child and an alienated father on Father’s Day?
To the alienated parents whom I have had the honor of meeting: You are frequently the more loving, caring parent. It is your goodness that makes you the easy, unwitting target of the supposedly favored parent. You are regularly rejected, vilified, and denigrated by your own children who are, themselves, victims… draftees into a war against you . This is surely a day of great pain. My heart goes out to you. (I do not own the rights to these songs or the adaptation of the Drea3662 video. Their use is for educational purposes.)
To the alienated parents whom I have had the honor of meeting: You are frequently the more loving, caring parent. It is your goodness that makes you the easy, unwitting target of the supposedly favored parent. You are regularly rejected, vilified, and denigrated by your own children who are, themselves, victims… draftees into a war against you . This is surely a day of great pain. My heart goes out to you.
[I do not own the rights to this song. It’s use here is for educational purposes]
An illuminating video from an adult child who personally experienced becoming alienated from his own biological mother. Since his recovery, he is dedicating himself to liberating his younger brother from that brother’s continued alienation.
Interesting. See this illuminating video on how to start your own cult. In addition to the cult phenomenon itself, you might observe mechanisms employed in Parental Alienation. Tongue in cheek as it is, there is much to take seriously – very seriously.
Click the 2nd of the 4 video thumbnails called “Could you start a cult? But first, get to the those video thumbnails by clicking
I want to thank actor, Jason Patric, for helping to bring awareness to this form of abuse of children and of targeted parents. Unfortunately, alienating parents use children as draftees in a war against the other parent, regardless of the damage to the child. I greatly admire (to see” his son, whom he has not seen at this point for 1 year). His foundation, Stand up for Gus, is also raising money to help alienated parents who cannot afford the astronomical legal costs in attempting to battle Parental Alienation Syndrome. I wish Jason Patric success in these efforts. — Les Linet MD
Vanessa K. Bohns at the University of Waterloo in Ontario published a very sobering account of how easily people can be induced to violate ethical norms – much easier than people think it is. A secondary lesson to be drawn is that if we fail to speak up for what we think is right, we aid and abet people inducing others to do wrong.
NY Times FEB. 9, 2014
By VANESSA K. BOHNS
WHAT is the chance that you could get someone to lie for you? What about vandalizing public property at your suggestion?
Most of us assume that others would go along with such schemes only if, on some level, they felt comfortable doing so. If not, they’d simply say “no,” right?
Yet research suggests that saying “no” can be more difficult than we believe — and that we have more power over others’ decisions than we think.
Social psychologists have spent decades demonstrating how difficult it can be to say “no” to other people’s propositions, even when they are morally questionable — consider Stanley Milgram’s infamous experiments, in which participants were persuaded to administer what they believed to be dangerous electric shocks to a fellow participant.
…We examined this question in a series of studies in which we had participants ask strangers to perform unethical acts. …students asked 108 unfamiliar students to vandalize a library book.
… more targets complied than participants had anticipated. …fully half of those who were approached agreed. Moreover, 87 percent of participants underestimated the number they would be able to persuade to vandalize the book.
…If we do not recognize the extent to which our suggestions and actions are likely to affect others’ behavior, we may be careless about the things we say and do. On the other hand, we may fail to speak up for what we think is right.
–Vanessa K. Bohns is an assistant professor of management sciences at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. This research was recently published in the journal, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Woody Allen writes his version of Mia Farrow’s accusations that he sexually molested their 7 year-old daughter, Dylan, 21 years ago and Dylan’s reaffirmation of the alleged abuse now that she is 28 years old. Mr. Allens’s piece is to be published in the NY Times on February 9, 2014.
I hope that Woody Allen is telling the truth. I also hope that his ability to tell a powerful story would translate into his making a movie about Parental Alienation Syndrome. A good movie would bring greater awareness to Parental Alienation Syndrome and demonstrate how angry ex-spouses use their children to seek revenge and satisfy their anger – at the expense of their children’s well being.
Adapted from Kids Aiding Parental Alienation Awareness Organization
Some parents, who have been alienated from their children, mistakenly believe that once their child has grown, become an adult and left the daily influence of an alienating parent, that everything will be okay; that the child will do all it takes to ‘fix’ the alienation that has occurred between them. Click for video:
leslinetmd 