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MEET THE EXPERTS · No. 6 of 10
The psychologist who gave millions of people the words for gaslighting.
Who is Ramani Durvasula?
Ramani Durvasula, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist, author, and professor emerita of psychology at California State University, Los Angeles. Through her books, talks and videos, known to many simply as “Doctor Ramani,” she reaches a huge audience of people trying to make sense of hard relationships.
What she saw first
Durvasula saw that millions of people were living with something they had no words for: being told, over and over, that what they saw, felt or remembered was wrong.
She describes gaslighting as denying or twisting someone’s reality until they start doubting their own memory and judgment. Giving that experience a name helped people stop blaming themselves and start trusting what they know.
What the science shows now
The idea she helped bring into everyday language now reaches well beyond relationships. People use “medical gaslighting” to describe being dismissed by the health system, and surveys show many women say they have felt brushed off by a doctor.
WHY IT MATTERS TO YOU
If you keep walking away from a conversation, at home, at work or in an exam room, doubting what you know, Durvasula’s work says to trust the pattern. Watch what people do, not just what they say, and get support from someone who believes you.
Follow her work
Website: doctor-ramani.com
Books: Should I Stay or Should I Go? (2015), Don’t You Know Who I Am? (2019) and It’s Not You (2024)
Sources
Durvasula R. It’s Not You: Identifying and Healing from Narcissistic People. The Open Field / Penguin Life (2024). penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/710202/its-not-you-by-ramani-durvasula-phd
Mira Fertility. Medical Gaslighting (survey of U.S. women). www.miracare.com/medical-gaslighting/
Dr. Ramani Durvasula is not affiliated with The Broadside. We feature her work because it helps bring new science to everyday people.
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