Gaslighting: who to trust

Tiffany Gough - Former Client - Jonathan Tuggle

By Tiffany Gough – Former Client – Jonathan Tuggle, Founding Shareholder at Boyd Collar Nolen Tuggle & Roddenbery Divorce and Family Law

Updated January 15, 2025

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Gaslighting is when an individual tries to manipulate another individual by making them doubt the truth and reality and puts them in a vulnerable position in trying to control a situation. Some examples can be when a person’s being gaslit. The gaslighter can say, I’d like a divorce. I’ve already figured things out, this is what we’re going to do, and you have to do what I say, or here’s a legal document. I have already started the process. We’re getting a divorce. An attorney will only make matters worse. Please sign this and we can move forward. Or you may hire an attorney. It’ll make complicate things, be too costly, and you’ll end up losing in the end. And they direct the narrative and make you feel vulnerable, out of control and lost. First, disengage from the situation. You remove yourself from the gas lighter.

You trust again your instincts and you reach out to an attorney. And you know that attorney will have your best interest in mind, in their heart, in their job. And that is what they’re there to do to protect you from being gaslit and to validate your truth and to run interference between the person that is gaslighting you and not only the attorney, but also the attorney’s team. It comes with multiple people, with their paralegals, their assistants, and you have a tier of support that you can reach out to in these situations. And they will handle the situation for.

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