China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
The Cartesian mind in the abused body
Published in Lisa Folkmarson Käll, Dimensions of Pain, 2012
For many people, the avoidance of pain, overwhelming information, and terror are sufficient reasons to block memories or to otherwise forget, minimize, or rewrite experiences of abuse. Jennifer Freyd argues in her book Betrayal Trauma that betrayal is an important motivation in forgetting abuse (Freyd 1998). Her argument is that trauma is most likely to be forgotten where the perpetrator is a person whom the victim has trusted, relied upon, and loved. The betrayal is so profound and runs so deep that repression functions as a defense mechanism against an overwhelming, debilitating, and perhaps life-threatening breach of trust. In terms of self-knowledge, this presents a terrible dilemma: to know of the abuse puts oneself at risk for further and perhaps greater physical and emotional trauma. To not know is to align oneself with the “trusted” abuser and ensure some sort of survival. Self-knowledge and survival are at great odds. For victims, knowing yourself in some ways may be a shattering or annihilation of your self, that is your stories, narratives, and memories you have held. Those victims who have been traumatized and abused by loved and trusted ones have a self with durable fibers of betrayal woven throughout. These fibers are felted together and thus inseparable from all the others.
The aftershocks of infidelity: a review of infidelity-based attachment trauma
Published in Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 2021
Benjamin Warach, Lawrence Josephs
Strong associations between infidelity victimization and traumatic symptomatology appear to exist. However, few studies have investigated the proportion of infidelity victims that suffer such traumatic reactions (e.g. Gordon et al., 2004; Steffens & Rennie, 2006). Indeed, the anecdotal clinical experiences of the authors of this paper suggest that a diversity of victim responses to sexual betrayal exists that spans a continuum from traumatic to neutral to (however rarely) positive. Additionally, infidelity researchers to date have overwhelmingly employed cross-sectional data collection and the longitudinal consequences of infidelity victimization therefore remain largely uninvestigated. Furthermore, the extent to which couples therapy or individual therapy (or their combination) alleviates traumatic reactions has yet to be fully explored. Relatedly, future research is required to determine whether, and under what circumstances, betrayal trauma is severe enough to alter the victim’s overall romantic attachment style. Moreover, the health consequences of infidelity victimization have received only minimal investigation.
When trauma violates trust: PTSD symptoms among chronically homeless adults in Australia
Published in Journal of Social Distress and Homelessness, 2022
Kathryn M. Taylor, Monica Thielking, Jessica L. Mackelprang, Denny Meyer, Stephen Quinn, Paul Flatau
The ability to trust others is frequently disrupted following trauma, particularly trauma perpetrated by someone thought to be trustworthy (Resick et al., 2017). This is referred to as betrayal trauma, which occurs when “the people or institutions on which a person depends for survival significantly violate that person's trust or well-being” (Freyd, 2008, p. 76). Traumas high in betrayal (e.g. abuse by a caregiver) are more strongly associated with PTSD than traumas lower in betrayal (e.g. abuse by a stranger) (Delker & Freyd, 2014; Martin et al., 2013; Tang & Freyd, 2012). The current study extends this literature by considering betrayal trauma and PTSD in a sample of chronically homeless adults in Australia.
Association Between Betrayal Trauma and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Among Adolescent Offenders: Shame and Emotion Dysregulation as Mediating Factors
Published in International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 2019
Shian-Ling Keng, Nurulhuda Binte Noorahman, Sukriti Drabu, Chi Meng Chu
There has been some empirical support for the association between betrayal trauma and different forms of psychological difficulties, including depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress symptoms (Goldsmith, Freyd, & DePrince, 2012; Ullman, 2007). High betrayal trauma has been shown to predict a range of physical health difficulties (Goldsmith, Freyd, & DePrince, 2012) and executive functioning difficulties, such as poorer working memory and behavioral inhibition (DePrince, Weinzierl, & Combs, 2009).