Terms are subject of fashion. Psychological/relatinships related terminology is as much subject of buzz-words as tech.

The process is exactly the same as when on tech suddenly everyone talks about fluent api one year, then about other buzzword, just for those then slowly dying.

The definition of “gaslighting” is a form of psychological abuse where someone is trying to make you doubt your own sanity by manipulating your perception of reality. I think this is a very powerful meme, because if you think gaslighting is occurring, anyone who argues that you aren’t being gaslit is calling you crazy and is therefore one of the gaslighters. This worldview reframes self-doubt or cognitive dissonance as being a product of a conspiracy. So in that sense it’s kind of a one-way street. Any thoughts that perhaps you aren’t being gaslit are just further evidence of how deep the gaslighting goes. Other explanations like “honest disagreement” or “lying” are more parsimonious and often a more accurate representation of reality, but just can’t compete.

Unfortunately the adaptive thing to do here is go along with it. If a friend tells me they are being gaslit, I’m certainly not going to side with the gaslighters.

I've noticed this with some other insults too - primarily used by the "woke" crowd.

My favorite example of "marxist" style insults is claiming that someone lives "rent free" in ones mind. Admittedly, I find this uniquely insulting and if anything I've got to give credit to zoomers and the other forerunners of todays "wokism" for adding more interesting insults and accusations to our linguistic zeitgeist.