Book rec: Betrayal Trauma (Theory)

[Guest guest]

Hi!!!! I happened across a book that looks really interesting,written by a

researcher in psychology who developed a Betrayal Trauma theory that reminded me

of the " trauma bonding " I've read about here on this message board.This

researcher's theory is in the area of childhood memory: how and why traumatic

memory is either consciously accessible or not.

I haven't read the book yet but below is an article/review of it written

by Judith Herman (author of the always highly recommended " Trauma and

Recovery " ) that gives a better over view of what the book/theory is about than I

could (plus a link after the article to more reviews on Amazon):

Betrayal Trauma: The Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse

JUDITH LEWIS HERMAN, M.D.

Cambridge, Mass.

" Of all the curious phenomena associated with psychological trauma, none has

caused more controversy than the issue of recovered memory. It seems to defy

logic that people who have survived rape, combat, torture, or incest might not

remember what happened to them. Common sense predicts that such horrible

experiences would be indelibly engraved in memory, and for many survivors this

is indeed the case. However, a century of clinical observation leaves no doubt

that some traumatized people develop amnesia for the event and may not recall

their experiences until months or even years later. How can we understand this?

Freyd, a professor and researcher in cognitive psychology, proposes the

theory that amnesia might be an adaptive response to trauma in circumstances

where the victim is dependent on the perpetrator for survival. Other

investigators have thought that amnesia might be correlated with some aspect of

the trauma, such as the degree of violence, physical injury, or life threat.

Freyd calls attention instead to the social context in which the trauma occurs.

The relationship between victim and perpetrator is central to her theory. " In

order to survive in cases of core betrayals (abuse by a trusted caregiver on a

dependent victim) some amount of information blockage is likely to be required.

The probability of amnesia is a function of the degree of betrayal " (p. 75).

In one of the most ingenious and original sections of the book, Freyd puts her

hypothesis to the test by reanalyzing data from four recently published studies

of adults with histories of childhood sexual abuse. In each case, she finds that

those who were abused by close relatives were more likely to have forgotten the

abuse for a time but that those who were not related to their abusers were more

likely to have continuous memory. She finds the highest rates of amnesia in

those who reported abuse by a parent.

Betrayal Trauma ranges widely, from the arcana of laboratory studies of memory

to the personal stories of survivors who remembered childhood abuse after long

periods of amnesia and whose accounts were later corroborated by independent

witnesses. Freyd's style ranges, too, from anecdotal to academic. She seems most

comfortable when she is explaining complicated cognitive experiments, and one

can easily imagine her lecturing in front of an enthralled class of beginning

psychology students. One can also imagine how uncomfortable this thoroughly

professional and private woman must feel about publicly disclosing her own

history of childhood abuse.

In a poignant afterword, Freyd makes it clear that she lost the option of

privacy when her parents, who are founders of an advocacy organization called

the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, mounted a highly visible attack on her

credibility. With great dignity and restraint, Freyd describes the relentless

harassment and personal vilification that she has endured from her parents and

their organization, a campaign that included letters to her professional

colleagues, demeaning allegations in the popular media, and, at one point, a

picketer in front of her office. Rather than complaining, Freyd pleads for a

return to the discourse of scientific inquiry. " My own history does not argue

for or against betrayal trauma theory, " she writes. " The theory must stand or

fall on its own evidence and logic. " Readers looking for gossip and sensational

detail will be disappointed; they will find instead a thoughtful and impassioned

treatise by a survivor who has transformed her own betrayal trauma into an

investigation of the psychology of memory. "

from:

http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/156/5/794

Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/Betrayal-Trauma-Logic-Forgetting-Childhood/dp/0674068068

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