The Gaslighteur

Sean meets Penelope, a zany woman with whom he instantly clicks. She confides in him that she has suffered an abusive relationship in her past at the hands of her ex-husband, who orchestrated a ‘Gaslighting’ campaign against her. Gaslighting, Sean discovers, is a means by which an abuser is able to psychologically manipulate his victim by making changes to her immediate environment and by presenting false or ambiguous information with the aim of making her doubt her own memory, perceptions and sanity.

Penelope has a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. She informs Sean that her ex-husband employed Gaslighting to cunningly engineer her psychiatric diagnosis with this mental disorder characterised by psychosis and perceptual dysfunction, and then planned and perpetrated an act of sexual assault in the knowledge that this diagnosis would allow him to evade prosecution on the grounds that her testimony would be afforded little credibility. She gives Sean a disturbing account in which she asserts that her abuser was able to cover up his emotional and sexual abuse by both exploiting her diagnosis and engaging in a ruthless act of blackmail.

In time Sean develops a deep connection to Penelope. He reveals to her some troubling memories of his childhood and she helps him to gain an insightful understanding of the ways in which emotionally wounding past experiences are continuing to exercise a detrimental influence upon his current day-to-day life, that manifest as a predisposition for exhibiting an excessively hypervigilant fear of ridicule, humiliation and rejection. She inspires him to believe that he can heal from these fears by embracing a journey of personal growth and recovery.

However, before long Sean begins to suspect that Penelope may be hiding her true intentions…..

The Gaslighteur is a work of both literary fiction and darkly disturbing psychological fiction that offers a fascinating and in-depth exploration of a range of issues, including Gaslighting/The Gaslight Effect, emotional and psychological abuse, sociopathic and psychopathic behaviour and narcissistic personality disorder. The story also embraces a critique of the dominant influence of psychiatry upon the mental health system, and promotes the concepts of healing, recovery and personal growth.

The Gaslighteur is every bit as disturbing as it is thought-provoking, and is a must-read for those of you who love literary fiction or psychological fiction, and for those of you who have an interest in the response of the mental health system to individuals' experiences of mental and emotional distress.