 Do you constantly find yourself going back and forth, trying to determine whether the hurt you feel is real or if it's just all in your head? Are you tormented with self-blame and other negative thoughts about yourself? Being on the receiving end of someone else's gaslighting can gradually cause a person to gaslight themselves as they internalize the blame and false accusations into negative beliefs about themselves. It's important to be attentive to the way we view ourselves and whether it may be self-gaslighting to help with that. Here are five signs you're gaslighting yourself. Number one, blaming yourself. Do you often have thoughts such as, it's all my fault or why did I do that to them? Gaslighting from other people in what you are constantly blamed can lead you to eventually place that blame on yourself. You may find that you gradually begin to believe their accusations and feel that you are always at fault. The effects of gaslighting can turn you against yourself, which can seep into various aspects of your life. It can have you blaming yourself for interactions with different people that go badly or other situations that go wrong. Number two, minimizing your own experiences. Regarding the trials and difficult experiences you've been through, have you ever thought to yourself that maybe it wasn't that bad or maybe it's all just in my head? Perhaps you've debated with yourself about whether you suffered through real trauma or convinced yourself that you've made too big a deal out of your experiences. You may have grown accustomed to thinking of your life in this manner without realizing that doing so minimizes the hardships that you have had. If you dwell on thoughts such as these, you're dismissing your own feelings and experiences. Excusing others when they don't deserve it. In the process of minimizing your experience and placing all of that blame on yourself, you might find that you also have the tendency to excuse other people for their insensitive behavior or mistreatment of you. Perhaps you found yourself thinking they didn't actually mean what I thought they meant or I know they love me and didn't mean it like that. Thoughts along these lines can occur when gaslighters in your life frequently insist that you misinterpreted the hurtful words they've thrown at you. Eventually, you might have developed the habit of excusing others even when they've hurt you and made no effort to apologize. Number four, believing you're too sensitive. Convincing yourself that you're just too sensitive goes hand in hand with constantly excusing others and blaming yourself. You may have gradually picked this up from constantly being told that you're too dramatic, emotional, sensitive, or even crazy, which may have occurred as a result of someone refusing to acknowledge that they hurt you. You may have come to the point where you start thinking to yourself, I am probably just making too big a deal out of it and being too sensitive whenever someone hurts you. While every situation is different, your feelings are always valid no matter the person's intentions. And number five, negative beliefs about yourself. Constant gaslighting and criticism from others can eventually take a toll on you, causing you to believe the negative things you've been told about yourself. Do you ever catch yourself thinking or saying, there must be something wrong with me, or I'm not worth believing, or I'm not enough, or if I were stronger, I wouldn't feel this way. These negative thoughts can seep into different aspects of your life from relationships to school or work as you falsely believe you're undeserving of genuine love and happiness. This can spiral into more serious mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. Fortunately, it is possible to heal and move forward from self-gaslighting. Did you relate to any of these signs? I did. Self-gaslighting involves a lot of self-blame and negative beliefs about yourself. Learning how to affirm your own experiences and feelings and improving self-esteem alongside that can be your way out of self-gaslighting. This can also help you learn how to identify manipulative behavior and tactics that gaslighters use. Healing is difficult, but certainly not impossible. Please don't hesitate to reach out to a mental health professional for proper help, guidance, and support.