Crazy Making and Domestic Violence:
3 Kinds of Crazy Making Behavior

by Dr. Jeanne King, Ph.D.

What is crazy making? We hear about it; we stumble upon it; we are subjected to it; and we even do it to others. But what is it? And how do you know it when you see it?

Most often when we use the term “crazy making,” we’re referring to the conduct of someone that does just that—his or her behavior makes you crazy. You know it’s the goofy things that people do that make you “nuts.” Thus, the term “crazy making.”

Did you know there are actually three kinds of crazy making?

Innocent Crazy Making

Now sometimes this crazy making behavior can be one’s innocent human idiosyncrasies, like the way some people squeeze their toothpaste tube. It’s the personal quirks that can be crazy-making to other individuals.

Malicious Crazy Making

Or, it can be malicious behaviors intended to confuse you, as in the case of “gas-lighting.” That is telling you something or doing something to make you think things are different from the way you intuitively know them to be.

Abusers are very good at this malicious form of crazy making. It’s as though they enjoy casting doubt amidst your clarity. My patients and newsletter readers frequently tell me how their abusive partners tell them they are crazy at the very time in which they are most sound. Or, they tell them that situations are different from the way they see or know them to be even when they are most certain.

Cruel, Heinous Crazy Making

Now there is another form of crazy making that has the exact same intention, but far more serious consequences. If you have read my writing you know what’s coming. It’s the crazy making that is more literal.

It’s the crazy making in which I tell you, you are psychiatrically and certifiably crazy. And to substantiate my allegations, I secure the opinion of an expert crazy diagnostician: a psychologist or psychiatrist. Thus, I officially make you crazy.

Now if you are a domestic violence survivor, who is in combat with an abuser using the healthcare and legal system to discredit or silence you and your victimization, you know this crazy making strategy.

The most important thing you can do for yourself and your children is to make sure you do not step into the crazy shoes because if you do, you will be wearing the crazy hat for the rest of your life.

You can learn how to block legal-psychiatric ploys and stop the crazy making before it defines and devastates you indefinitely. To learn more about Crazy Making Legal-Psychiatric Abuse: Signs and Prevention, visit Prevent Abusive Relationships. Psychologist Dr. Jeanne King, Ph.D. helps battered women and abused men to recognize and end crazy making legal abuse.

This series of eInsights is presented to you by Partners in Prevention, a nonprofit organization. If you find this eInsight article useful, we invite you to contribute to the maintenance and growth of the Survivor Success Tips & eInsights. To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit www.EndDomesticAbuse.org