I was the victim of outright aggressive gaslighting at a job I had in the early 1990s. I'd gotten interviewed thanks to a recommendation from my reporter mentor. I got a nice raise. Year two, got another big raise. Had stories on the front page of the weekly newspaper. All told, I'd gotten an 18% salary bump in 2.5 years time. My mentor told me that my manager told HIM that I was working out great.

I was in my early 30s then, with not much work experience. I made the mistake of talking to the publisher about shifting my role from reporter to editor. I didn't realize that this was seen as a terrible thing to do in terms of office politics. From that day on, suddenly, my stories weren't any good anymore. My boss lied and said he's always had issues with my work (really? Do you give raises to bad employees? And tell someone the exact opposite about their performance?)

Every single story I submitted was scrutinized to the Nth degree and found wanting. Even one where I asked a co-worker to edit it in advance. So it was actually HER writing, associated with my name.

The torture went on for about 3 months and then I was fired. I was never able to find another journalism job and ended up working as an editor at an association, because I didn't want my condo to go into foreclosure.

So three months of quiet firing, followed by actual firing, that derailed my career. And to think I'd actually moved halfway across the country, from a city I loved (Chicago), to the DC area for this job.