I never heard the term “ambient abuse”, it is a modern term for gaslighting which is a well known term for someone undermining someone else’s self-confidence, self-esteem sense of self making them believe they are crazy, incapable and basically losing their minds. For instance lets say you put your keys down on the desk and you are pretty sure that you did but you find it in the fridge. You rack your brains to remember how and when you put them in the fridge. You think it is odd, your spouse tells you that you must be under a lot of stress, so don’t worry about it. Then other strange things happen and he seems very supportive but you begin to feel you are losing your mind. HE is setting you up to feel you are losing your mind and HE is actually moving your keys and creating the scenarios that are making you freak out. He is making you feel like you are losing your mind which causes you to feel incapable and unsure of yourself. This causes you to feel weak and depressed. Which makes him the hero for caring for you, and he gains all the sympathy for having a crazy wife or a wife that is going crazy.
It can go as far as making someone lose their mind and force them into a psyche ward.