Internalized gaslighting is essentially when we’ve been gaslit so much (by the world, our community, rape culture, an abuser) that our mindset has shifted, and we begin doing it to ourselves. Our automatic thoughts end up being ones that question our sanity or sense of reality. Gaslighting is a transactional process in a relationship where, by means of psychological manipulation, someone is deliberately and consciously trying to make another person question their sense of reality or their sanity. This tactic is something we commonly see in abusive relationships, and it is considered to be a method of psychological abuse.

Online trauma therapist Kelsey Harper, Psy.D. share why one of the more notable core values that she holds as a survivor and as someone who works with other survivors is to believe all survivors. It is one of the first podcast episodes Dr. Harper published back in 2021 on her podcast, Initiated Survivor.