Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation and emotional abuse in which a person seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or in members of a targeted group, making them question their own memory, perception, or sanity. When inflicted on the elderly, it’s elder abuse.
Deny, Deflection, Dismiss, Distract, Devalue, Delay, Distort
Attack
Reverse Places With
Victim and
Oppressor
= Gaslighting the Eldery
Abusers often employ a manipulative strategy known as DARVO (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim, and Offender)
DARVO typically unfolds in the following ways:
Deny
The first step of the process is for the abuser to deny whatever wrongdoing they are accused of. They will completely refuse that any element of the abuse happened in the way they are accused.
Attack
Once the denial is established, the accused goes on the offensive. Here, the abuser does everything in their power to attack the other person. One way to achieve this is by questioning their motivation, mental health, and stability, attacking their intelligence, honesty, and morality, and attacking their actions (past and present). Severe reputational harm is inflicted on the person reporting wrongdoing, – a full on smear campaign is launched to discredit and isolate the elder.
Reverse Victim & Offender
Perhaps the most insidious element of DARVO is the attempt of the perpetrator to switch roles with the victim. Rather than accepting responsibility for their actions, they aim to make the original victim into the perpetrator.
When used against the elderly, DARVO is elder abuse.