Gaslighting itself isn't a specific crime but is illegal when it's part of a broader pattern of coercive control, which is increasingly criminalized, especially in intimate partner relationships, as seen with new laws in NSW and Queensland, Australia, and similar trends elsewhere, making it a serious offense under domestic abuse or harassment statutes, according to Access Law Group, face2face Recruitment, Relationships Australia NSW, Queensland Government, and NSW Government and NSW Government. It can also fall under workplace harassment or other abuse laws, but new legislation targets the dangerous, controlling behaviors that gaslighting represents.
Gaslighting is a form of coercive control and is illegal, find out more about the law says below. Gaslighting can happen over a long period of time and can be a very gradual process.
How to recognize gaslighting
Emotional and psychological abuse is real and damaging, but the law doesn't always recognize it unless the abuse includes things like harassment, stalking, or threats. Advocates and other domestic violence professionals understand how harmful emotional, psychological, and verbal abuse can be.
Emotional Distress Cases Won in Australia
Successful emotional distress cases in Australia show that compensation is possible, but claims require: ✅ Clear evidence of psychological harm (e.g., PTSD, anxiety disorder, depression). ✅ Proof of negligence or misconduct by the responsible party.
Before you report, you don't need to gather 'evidence' about what's been happening, like text messages, videos or photos. Anything you've got like that can be useful to us, but don't delay reporting to get it.
Experts categorize gaslighting into five types: outright lying, coercion, scapegoating, reality questioning, and trivializing. Each type serves to manipulate the victim's perception and undermine their confidence, making it vital for individuals to recognize these patterns in their relationships.
If someone uses any of these nine phrases, they may be gaslighting you:
Coercive control, which is a prevalent factor in domestic and family violence, is recognised in Australian law as a form of abuse. Many of the behaviours that are present in narcissistic abuse have a crossover with domestic and family abuse – even in the absence of physical abuse or sexual abuse.
Here are five shifts to alter the dynamic between you and your gaslighter:
Coercion involves compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner through the use of threats, including threats to use force against that party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a desired response.
Emotional abuse refers to a situation when a person willfully causes or permits a child to suffer, inflicts unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering on a child, or willfully causes or permits the child to be placed in a situation in which their health is endangered while under their custody.
The modern definition of gaslighting is a psychological manipulation technique in which a person tries to convince someone that their reality is untrue. It is a tactic often used by narcissists to gain control of their intended target.
Merriam-Webster defines gaslighting as "psychological manipulation" to make someone question their "perception of reality" leading to "dependence on the perpetrator".
Narcissistic abuse typically involves emotional abuse via put-downs, accusations, criticism, or threats. A person with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) may gaslight or contradict you in front of others.
Mental cruelty means a course of unprovoked and abusive misconduct towards one's spouse, causing unendurable humiliation, distress and miseries so it impairs the complainant's physical and mental health and it makes it impractical for the complainant to maintain the marital status.
Signs of emotional and psychological abuse
While gaslighting is a common term used to describe harmful manipulation, it shouldn't be confused with conflict. Although gaslighting is an insidious tactic and form of manipulation, too often, people consider aggressive behaviors, like addressing conflict directly, as gaslighting.
While a person may occasionally mislead or lie to others, a true gaslighter often lies or misleads. They almost always have a personality disorder such as Narcissistic Personality Disorder (commonly known as a narcissist) or Anti-social Personality Disorder (commonly known as a psychopath or sociopath).
Any paper trail showing your harasser's interactions, along with social media posts and witness testimony, can be beneficial when attempting to prove that the individual intended to cause you emotional distress.
Harassment that is based on the following grounds— marital status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age disability, race, or Traveller community ground— is a form of discrimination in relation to conditions of employment.
Settlements Vs.
While the average settlement is under $37,000, another study found that when harassment lawsuits go to trial, the average payout increases to $217,000. This considerable difference is partly because cases that are deemed severe are more likely to require a court trial to prove.