When You Try and Bring Up Hurtful or Abusive Behaviour, Do They Immediately Turn It Around and Play the Victim?
Gaslighting Is a Common Victim-Blaming Abuse Tactic – Here Are 4 Ways to Recognize It in Your Life by Kris Nelson
Another way to manipulate someone into thinking that they’re not experiencing harm or abuse is to constantly turn the conversation towards the abuser, making it seem like you are doing harm by even bringing up what’s hurting you.
If someone in your life cannot (or will not) let you speak to your experiences, and instead insists on turning it into a conversation about themselves, the conversation is not a healthy one.
Some red flag phrases for this tactic are:
“You always make me out to be the bad guy.”
“Constantly bringing stuff like this up makes me feel bad/is hurtful to me.”
“I’m actually the one hurting.”
“You don’t know what abuse is. Saying that I’m abusive is hurtful to me.”
“Pretending I’m hurtful/abusive makes you the bully.”
If these phrases are a constant in your life, if you feel like you’ve been conditioned into mistrusting your own memories and experiences, you have most likely been the victim of gaslighting.
