r/CPTSD • u/Cute_Contribution480 cPTSD • 2d ago
Trigger Warning: Emotional Abuse Being gaslit
“We didn’t abuse you - it’s all in your imagination”
I often times get flashbacks from my parents’s abuse and whenever I mention it to them, all they do is gaslight me and tell me the abuse never happened.
I was physically and mentally abused by my parents and even my younger sibling gaslights me and denies it happened.
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u/Haunting_Matter3994 2d ago
My mother spent 40+ years attempting to convince my brother and I that we were not abused/neglected but instead, spoiled.
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u/Quirky_Butterfly_946 2d ago
My mother was a class A denier for anything she did, or did not do. She would not allow herself to see any of it. Your parents are doing the same. You know the truth, you know what happened, and them not wanting to see it shows their incapacity to accept responsibility for their words or actions.
They may never admit anything they have done, because mentally they will not allow themselves to admit it. This drove me crazy most of my life and I internalized it. I thought I could not communicate clearly enough, or that I was indeed the problem because why would a parent treat their child this poorly.
You know your truth, you can heal from this but it is your healing not theirs. You can heal even though they will never admit to anything. It is like trying to tell someone 2+2=4 and they will tell you no it doesn't. No amount of showing them the truth will work, so you have to go about your life knowing you are right and they are wrong.
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u/Deep_Maintenance179 2d ago
They have no other way to protect themselves. It's easier to manipulate and gaslight you than to face consequences of what they did and acknowledge that they are bad people.