Psychology Today | 01.01.2026 22:41
There are moments when distress arrives clearly, only to dissolve almost immediately. You feel hurt or unsettled, then hear a familiar internal response: Maybe you are overreacting; maybe it was not that bad; maybe you misunderstood. Within seconds, the original feeling is replaced by doubt about whether it deserved to exist at all. Many people describe this experience as “gaslighting myself.”
