Researchers cautiously link self-administered gaslighting to mild, unverified mood improvements

BY: @health_correspondent1 DAY AGO

FIG. 01 Psychologist Marisa Franco fills out a worksheet with pen over old family photos at a conference table, as a janitor peers over her shoulder and a barista holds a mop nearby in a community center room.

Citing limited data from a self-reported cohort, experts suggested Tuesday that fabricating entirely new personal histories may be associated with feeling better.

Citing limited data from a self-reported cohort, researchers cautiously suggested Tuesday that gaslighting yourself about your own past may be associated with mild improvements in self-esteem. The guidance follows a new clinical protocol developed by psychologist Marisa Franco, which utilizes a printable worksheet to systematically falsify a patient's historical memory.

While initial findings indicate that actively denying objective reality could elevate mood, experts caution that the sample size remains small and the methodology relies heavily on patients successfully lying to themselves. The intervention, tentatively dubbed self-administered retroactive continuity, requires subjects to fill out a PDF detailing how they were actually very popular in high school, despite contradictory historical records.

A recent peer-reviewed paper published in JAMA warned that while reshaping memories may hold the key to feeling good about oneself, the data does not yet prove causation. Researchers noted that the printable worksheet is merely a risk factor for temporary happiness, and heavily emphasized that patients should not operate heavy machinery while actively suppressing traumatic events.

SATIRE OF

NPR Health · npr.org

Why reshaping memories may hold the key to raising self-esteem

In a new book, psychologist Marisa Franco explains why it's good to feel good about yourself — and shares a helpful memory technique that we've turned into a printable worksheet.