‘Gaslight’ Is Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for No Good Reason

As conversations round psychological well being grow to be extra normalized, so does the surface-level method we speak about it on the Internet. According to Merriam-Webster, the phrase “gaslight” is the dictionary’s 2022 phrase of the yr because the nuance and magnitude of the phrase has been dulled throughout our on-line world.

Gaslighting is a type of emotional abuse that may trigger a sufferer to query their very own actuality and reminiscence of sure occasions, and Merriam-Webster says that searches of the phrase noticed an explosive 1740% improve in 2022. The phrase comes from a 1938 play the place a person convinces his spouse that she goes insane by mendacity to her that their house’s fuel lights usually are not dimming. It can be simple to argue that the huge improve in searches is fueled by a heightened understanding of psychological well being and abuse in our society.

Not so quick, Merriam-Webster additionally explains that the which means of gaslighting has taken on a brand new type that’s extra broad, describing gaslighting as “the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one’s own advantage.” This new definition pales compared towards the extra thorough and medical definition developed through the mid-twentieth century, which Merriam-Webster additionally defines as:

psychological manipulation of an individual often over an prolonged time frame that causes the sufferer to query the validity of their very own ideas, notion of actuality, or reminiscences and sometimes results in confusion, lack of confidence and vanity, uncertainty of 1’s emotional or psychological stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator

“The idea of a deliberate conspiracy to mislead has made gaslighting useful in describing lies that are part of a larger plan,” wrote Merriam-Webster of their weblog put up. “Unlike lying, which tends to be between individuals, and fraud, which tends to involve organizations, gaslighting applies in both personal and political contexts.”

While a barrage of establishments have popularized the phrase, use of “gaslight” as a time period has seemingly soared throughout social media over the previous yr, however so have phrases like “narcissist,” “toxic,” and “trauma.” This psychological well being lexicon is turning into commonplace in practically all areas of the web, however is most clearly obvious on social media platforms like TikTok—severely, have a look at the feedback of any TikTok and you’ll often discover some permutation of this dialog. That’s a problem.

Shannon Thomas, a trauma therapist, informed Insider in 2021 that this improve in psychological health-coded language is a “double edged sword”—as consciousness round problems with abuse and psychological well being might improve, the meanings of phrases that describe these points shortly grow to be watered down by the clicking financial system. Jenna Drenten, a advertising and marketing professor at Loyola University Chicago who research digital client tradition, echoed these sentiments in the identical article.“It has nothing to do with normalizing issues around mental health,” mentioned Drenten. “It has everything to do with maintaining the interest of the internet attention.”

As virality and authenticity gas shops like TikTok, struggles with psychological well being and vulnerability in expressing it have gotten more and more frequent—similar to importing a video of yourself crying. Words like “gaslight” and “narcissist” are emotionally fueled, making a response within the viewer and inspiring engagement, whereas concurrently making a pervasive misunderstanding of the nuanced ideas of abuse that this language describes.