Beneath the Surface: Recognizing and Understanding Coercive Control

A Sorella course on the roots, realities, and resistance to abuse

Welcome. If you’re here, it may be because something in your relationship has felt off — even if others couldn’t see it, or you couldn’t explain it. In this module, we’re going to name what’s been happening. We’ll unpack coercive control — the hidden underpinning of abuse — and begin the process of ungaslighting yourself. You are not alone and it’s not your fault.

After this module, you will be able to:

• Define coercive control and its many forms
• Understand that it is the foundation of most abuse
• Recognize both overt and covert tactics
• Identify systemic blind spots — in schools, courts, therapy, and culture
• See how this pattern escalates into physical and sexual violence
• Begin your ungaslighting process and understand what comes next

This session is the first step in the Sorella course path: Ungaslight → Navigate → Heal. We begin with clarity. Coercive control is not just a dynamic between people — it reflects deeper societal problems that often go unacknowledged. But by learning to see it clearly, you’re beginning to unbind the invisible chains that have held you back — step by step, in your own time. To begin to reclaim what was taken.