Gaslighting

In recent years, “gaslighting” has emerged with increasing popularity in memoirs and fictional accounts. Originally derived from a British play (1938) that was later turned into a film (1944), “gaslighting” refers to a dynamic that occurs between two individuals in which one person subtly distorts or manipulates the other person’s perception of reality. Although the term is often associated with extreme or deliberate forms of emotional abuse, contemporary writers use the word more expansively to describe any situation in which another person (or institution) tries to control my emotional experience. And while the phenomenon is predominantly associated with romantic relationships, it has recently been adapted to refer to medical experiences (medical gaslighting) as well, showing the immense appeal of a word that describes people’s encounters with self-loss. While some writers use “gaslighting” to describe confusing interpersonal dynamics, others have complained that the term is non-specific and functions too often as a shortcut that shirks emotional complexity. The enduring popularity of the term means that narrative accounts of “gaslighting” require renewed thoughtfulness, subtlety, and creativity. Drawing on concepts and language developed in psychoanalysis and critical theory, this course provides tools for writing boldly, carefully, and with precision, about intense psychological and interpersonal experiences.

As a writer who is also a practicing clinician and theorist, I will introduce topics that are central to understanding complex psychological phenomena, such as: dissociation, trauma, attachment theory and regulation. In addition to immersing ourselves in clinical material, we will also read work in queer and critical race theory that complicates our understanding of selfhood, emotional awareness, and society. These engagements with clinical and critical theory will be grounded in contemporary writing: Melissa Febos’, Abandon Me, Roxane Gay’s, Hunger: A Memoir of (my) Body, Amanda Montei’s, Touched Out, Paul B. Preciado, Can the Monster Speak?, and Micha Frazer-Carroll’s, Mad World. These books offer bracing and sophisticated attempts to represent complex emotional experience in new and unusual ways. Bringing a clinical perspective to bear on these texts will provide students with an enriched vocabulary for understanding themselves and their experiences.