On a separate note, there’s a thread about validation on here. What a good friend told me is that the victim of abuse is never validated by the abuser. Therefore, you start to question yourself, doubt your perceptions and question your reality. Victims of abuse need validation after getting out of the abuse - or even while experiencing it. They/we need to feel that our perceptions and instincts are correct. The abuser constantly gaslights, which invalidates the experiences and beliefs of the victim.

It’s very sick. So, abuse victims in particular need validation.