Am I Just Too Sensitive? — A Gaslighting Self-Check and How to Break Free

You’re sure they said it — but they reply, “I never said that.” You share that you’re hurt, and you hear, “You’re just too sensitive.” At some point you start asking yourself, “Am I the crazy one?” — doubting your own memory and feelings.

Sound familiar?

If so — you may not be too sensitive at all. This could be gaslighting: a form of manipulation where someone slowly distorts your sense of reality.

Psychologist Robin Stern, who studied this dynamic, described gaslighting as “a relational trap where one person repeatedly makes the other believe their thoughts, memories, and feelings are wrong.” The frightening part: the person on the receiving end gradually stops trusting themselves.

Common signs of gaslighting

1. Denying facts — “I never said that,” “You’re remembering it wrong.” 2. Minimizing feelings — “Don’t be so sensitive,” “Can’t you take a joke?” 3. Shifting blame — “You made me do it,” “This is all your fault.” 4. Isolation — “Don’t listen to them, they don’t know you.” 5. Self-doubt — you start second-guessing everything: “Did I get it wrong again?”

How to break free

Antidote 1: Document your reality When your memory wobbles, keep notes or screenshots of conversations and events. It shifts you from “Am I crazy?” to “Here’s the record.”

Antidote 2: Get a reality check from someone you trust

• ❌ Alone: “I’m probably just overreacting…” (this feeds the manipulation)
• ✅ Ask a trusted friend: “How does this situation look to you?”

Antidote 3: Name and validate your feelings

• ❌ “It’s nothing, I’m overreacting.”
• ✅ “I feel dismissed right now, and that hurts. This feeling is valid.”

Antidote 4: Set a boundary — or leave If the manipulation repeats no matter how you talk it through, distance is self-protection. Draw a line (“If you speak to me like that, I’ll end the conversation”), and it’s okay to leave the relationship if you need to.

The twist: The first thing to heal in gaslighting isn’t the other person — it’s your ability to trust your own gut again. That feeling that something’s off? It’s usually right.

In closing

If you keep asking “Am I too sensitive?”, that very question can be a signal. Your memory and feelings are more accurate than you think.

If reality-checking alone feels heavy, Bondi is here to listen. Grounded in psychology, it helps you sort through the situation and reflect back whether your feelings are valid. You’re not crazy.