In short, gaslighting is any behavior or imparting of information that has the effect of making the target distrust their own perception. [If you feel like it's cold but everyone tells you it's hot, you start to doubt your reality-testing faculties.]

Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse that involves an increasing frequency of systematic withholding of factual information from, and/or providing false information to the target, having the gradual effect of making the victim anxious, confused, and less able to trust his or her own memory and perception. [wikipedia]

Gaslighting tends to intersect with other tactics mentioned on this site, such as street theater, cryptic references (themes) but generally involves sabotage of a person’s belongings and perspective in order to disturb the target’s peace of mind. The goal is to confuse the target to the point where he/she cannot trust their own memories or perspective.

Street Theater as Gaslighting

Via street theater, gaslighting is carried out by networking of stalkers who share some of the same profile information and disinformation about the target. While participating in staged events around the target this info and disinfo is mentioned to, or out loud around, the target.

The basic idea is to let the target know that personal information (personal data or things said and done in the target’s home, for example) is known about them. Oftentimes in ongoing harassment the most mundane things are mentioned, such as a phrase the target said earlier that morning, or mentioning an internet site that was visited, etc. This is meant to give the target the impression that everything they do is monitored.

In most cases disinformation is also mentioned, but is only pieced together by the target after several run-ins with street theater stalkers. This disinfo can be the most disturbing because the target is left to wonder why so many people are referring to the same topics or exact phrases (themes). After many run-ins the target can often discern who is a stalker by their demeanor (sometimes their gleefully malicious attitude alone) before any new disinfo references are mentioned (neuro-linguistic programming to instill negative emotions and associations).

Again, with seemingly meaningless repetitious phrases, the idea is to confuse the target who may start questioning their senses if/when they hear several people mention the same oddly phrased set of words or if the same topic is brought up all around, while having no real significance in the target’s experience.

Cryptic References (Themes) as Gaslighting

This happens in street theater, but also passing conversation with friends and family members. When the target is profiled or, as in my case, an explosive event like covert drugging is used to mine information about the target’s fears and weaknesses, this information is used to create a collection of key phrases and topics. These triggers are then mentioned in the most casual conversations in an attempt to confuse and upset the target.

To complicate matters, as the target starts seeing patterns in the themes, these often come up in conversation from harmless sources, in the way that information normally spreads throughout culture. We all know the example of coming across a new word only to hear it five times throughout the next few days. These organically generated themes tend to make isolating gaslighting rather difficult if one is in the thick of a campaign of manufactured coincidence.

Break-ins and Tampering as Gaslighting

Gaslighting in this form is the most basic type, in that the goal is to make the target feel confused or crazy because items go missing or are moved. Quite often there is no sign of break-in, except that one or a few items will be missing or moved to other locations.

In my own experiences, one time the front door had been left unlocked and a false work order paper left on the kitchen counter. Another time legal documents pertaining to the custody of my son were removed and I had to exert effort to search end eventually replace the documents, thus losing critical time to formulate my case in the custody suit. Another time clothes of mine had been drug around and left in various places. A book that accomplices had given me was left next to me while I slept. Light bulbs have been changed, small items moved around and windows and doors left unsecured.

Anytime I mentioned these things to others they would tell me I was making connections where there weren’t any. Some well meaning people will try to tell the target that these are just normal events of misplaced items and forgetfulness. And those with ill intentions do the same, but generally there is also a strong pressure implied that the target better stop acting crazy if he/she wants to continue being thought of as a reasonable person. I also experienced the most active stalkers responding to my mention of things being tampered with by saying, “hmmm, so what do you make of that?”, implying a barely veiled malicious glee of sorts. In this way stalkers seem to enjoy making it known to the target that any attempt to share the gaslighting events with others will only isolate them further from others who may have a hard time believing that these events are other than normal misfortunes.

Gaslighting by Friends and Family

Oftentimes people closest to the target are approached and fed various lies and programming long before the target even knows that he/she has become a target. When the target tries to relate the events that are happening, the trusted friends and family tell the target various forms of “no, it’s your imagination, that’s just not likely”. And if the target presses them once the stalking events become very intense, the target is subtly encouraged to normalize and quit mentioning the signs of stalking that they see.

In my experience, friends and family members are the worst / most-effective wielders of gaslighting, as the target, searching for meaning and support does his/her best to take the supportive advice to heart and regain some semblance of normalcy in their lives. Essentially, this push to have the target fall in line and obey normal life dictates, while still being harassed by stranger-stalkers and putting up with various other tactics, is forced to live in two worlds. Clearly, this is the very definition of gaslighting. If left suspended in this state, the target may begin to doubt their own experiences, memory and their very self. Induced self doubt is, indeed, terroristic by its very nature.

During the first explosive terrorist attacks on me, I was told again and again by loving family and friends that I needed to move forward and, essentially, forget about the traumatic events. And again and again these gaslighting precursors led me into increasingly dangerous situations, where I could not trust my own intuition about the danger I was walking into (further explosive events).

Not that these people did this intentionally. Not at all! The ones closest to me, it seems, just really care about me and it’s easier for them to see what I report as delusional than true. There are other issues at work there, but the point is that gaslighting is not always intentional.

So, gaslighting permeates the gang stalking experience from day one. As the terroristic events build the target comes to expect them around every corner. Then as the target tries to regroup and find normal life again, gaslighting (whether intentional or reactionary as from target’s family members) threatens to further complicate the target’s intuition and decision making capability.

Gaslighting is at the heart of all gang stalking. Throughout the stalking campaign, whether to confuse or frighten the target, the goal is incessant psychological provocation that, if left misunderstood or is not countered by the target through disconnection with these vectors of attack, may result in psychological breakdown.

An excellent book that gives many examples of unconscious gaslighting and indoctrination, see Gaslighting, the Double Whammy, Interrogation and Other Methods of Covert Control in Psychotherapy and Analysis. Along with the examples of covert control, are many examples of ways a target of such methods of control can respond in order to defuse the covert messages.