Just saw this:
Hi there,
Im looking for a book that explains gaslighting really well. Its for me and my Dad.
My mum abused me as a child, along with her siblings.
ts a big family secret they have kept well by using group gaslighting. Their gaslighting, and pretending nothing happened/excluding me, is probably the last biggest hurdle I have in healing (My dad was also manipulated by them). At some level…I still find it hard to believe myself.So i’m looking for a really good book about gaslighting. Any help would be very much appreciated! https://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,44230.msg716939.html#msg716939
Among the answers:
The term stems from the film Gas Light which is free available on youtube so maybe apart from the recommended books about psychopathy it’s useful to (re)watch the film to get better understanding?
There is a book called “The Gaslight Effect: How to Spot and Survive the Hidden Manipulation Others Use to Control Your Life” by Dr. Robin Stern. I read it a few years ago and thought it was excellent.
https://www.amazon.com/Gaslight-Effect-Survive-Manipulation-Control/dp/0767924452George Simon’s book “In Sheep’s Clothing” is really good too.
https://www.amazon.com/Sheeps-Clothing-Understanding-Dealing-Manipulative/dp/1935166301
Another good one is: The Empathy Trap: Understanding Antisocial Personalities by by Jane McGregor and Tim McGregor.
The authors also had an interview on SOTT Talk Radio: https://www.sott.net/article/270014-Behind-the-Headlines-The-Empathy-Trap-Understanding-how-predators-manipulate-peoples-strengths-and-weaknesses
For those who have never experienced gaslighting I would suggest starting with the movie itself.
I once went into the local precinct to report that I thought that individuals were entering my apartment (I suspected an ex and a friend). The PAA asked me if anything was stolen. I replied no, only that electrical/electronic devices were turned on and off. She just looked at me. I was almost embarrassed to be saying it out loud. I never got to the part, “oh yeah, and I think the guy was a cop.”
There are actually two types of gaslighting: the first where the victim is not aware that the gaslighting is purposeful, the second where the victim is fully aware (by the gaslighter’s intent) but can’t say anything because no one will believe them.
I forgot to add an excellent read. It’s one chapter from Hervey Cleckley’s great book, “The Mask of Sanity”. It’s about one Spath called Stanley. Look at all the lies he tells and what he gets away with. A big example of gas lighting and a short read for those that want an over view.
http://www.energyenhancement.org/Psychopath/psychopath-Hervey-Cleckley-the-mask-of-sanity-SECTION-TWO-THE-MATERIAL-Part-1-The-disorder-in-full-clinical-manifestations-19-Stanley.html
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Here’s a great book. “The psychopath code: by Pieter Hintjens. He has it where you can buy or download a free copy. He was a computer programmer who noticed all these weirdos around him and finally figured out they were psychopaths. I particularly like the way he dissects them. Being a computer programmers he breaks down what to look for in small pieces. I can’t recommend it enough.
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Good find, thank you. I was in IT for a while and programming for a couple years, the fields do attract psychopaths.
Here’s the link, The Psychopath Code.
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Hi PW. What about the field of psychology? To the best of your knowledge, do psychopaths ever become psychologists?
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Often, particularly specializing in psychopathy (even if they don’t call it that). I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if a majority of the psychopathy experts, holding higher psychology degrees, weren’t psychopaths themselves. Many, indeed, have gone public on their own psychopathic brain structures.
On the level of general principals, it seems to me that psychopaths like to go into professions that utilize the strengths of their con artist genetics (lawyers, banksters, huckster salesmen, etc.); that feed their view of themselves as superior (thus professions based on ‘secret knowledge’ such as IT, programming, telephone work); that allow them to hide out as wolves among the sheep; etc.
Hmm, let me add EMT ambulance drivers. But how does that fit into my general principals? Are there more molestations and rapes of unconscious patients than we are aware of?
Concerning psychology I think many are simply very curious about their condition. Also some go in to psychology to learn higher manipulative techniques and others to help hide psychopathy. I would be very interested in the brain structures of the DSM worthies who, it could be argued, invented ‘antisocial personality disorder’ as a cloaking device to hide the existence of genetic psychopathy, and in the brain structure of the ‘Psychopath Whisperer’, Kent Kiehl.
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