Betrayal Trauma: The Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse

By Jennifer J. Freyd

Book Overview

This book lays bare the logic of forgotten abuse. Psychologist Jennifer Freyd's breakthrough theory explaining this phenomenon shows how psychogenic amnesia not only happens but, if the abuse occurred at the hands of a parent or caregiver, is often necessary for survival. Freyd's book will give embattled professionals, beleaguered abuse survivors, and the confused public a new, clear understanding of the lifelong effects and treatment of child abuse.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674068068
• ISBN13: 9780674068063
• Release Date: February 1998
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Has been extremely helpful in my recovery

Before I read Betrayal Trauma, I obsessed over the details of WHAT had been done to me, to protect myself from the deeper and more devastating knowledge that I was severely betrayed by people who were expected, by society, to protect and care about me. As I let go of my denial that their behaviors were the norm, and accepted that they had wilfully chosen to betray me, I felt and fully experienced the deep, foundational pain that I'd secretly feared might kill me. I was stunned to realize how their innumerable betrayals had kept me separated from the rest of society for DECADES. Armed with that knowledge, I was able to let go of my childishly unrealistic expectations, and emotionally disconnect from them. As I let go, I realized how lonely I was. Although I'd used my inner selves in the past decades for company, I now dared to reach out to external others. As I did - miracle of miracles - I began to fully integrate. (I've been tested recently, and no longer have DID, although I still struggle with PTSD from hell.) Some of the healthy people I've since chosen to trust, love, and bond with have become members of my new family of choice. I cannot, in words, sufficiently express the joy and happiness I now feel when I interact with them. I never would have experienced this marvelous part of ordinary life, had I not allowed Dr. Freyd's words to lead me through my foundational pain. By example, she blazed a brave path that I am fortunate to have found and followed.

Uncommon Objectivity

Because of her parents attacks on Dr. Freyd, I'd expected to find some of her justifible anger in the pages of this book. I did not. Dr. Freyd is logical, objective, and professional in her handling of this sensitive subject. She adds a somewhat new perspective to the old story of sexual abuse and betrayal. An excellent addition to any therapist's or survivor's library.

Excellent

I consider this book one of a small handful that really goes to the core of understanding trauma and its influence. Other such books include works by Alice Miller, Konrad Stettbacher, and Mortan Schatzman (Soul Murder; out of print; not the book by the same title by Leonard Schengold).

best book on traumatic memory controversy

Jennifer Freyd has written an incredibly powerful and moving book, the kind where her thinking gets yours going and you start to jot notes in the margins as you tear through it. Despite the fact that she has endured being outed as an incest survivor and being called a liar and a patsy by her parents and their coterie of non-traumatic memory experts associated with the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, Dr. Freyd has risen above the fray about repressed memories in this book. Not one little shaft or snide remark escapes from her pen. Instead she focuses on the real issue: Do people forget trauma? Yes. Do we know how or why? Not completely but there seem to be several ways that it happens and more than one reason to do it. The element of betrayal appears to have a strong effect. Is it possible that therapists can implant memories? Possible. Is it possible for parents to cause kids to forget sexual abuse? Even more possible. Part of the joy of this book is her careful analysis of the implications of some of the more famous lab experiments on memory which are cited a "proof" that therapists can implant traumatic memories: For instance, the kid who was told he had been lost in a shopping mall "was convinced of the shopping mall story after being told that his older brother and his mother both remembered the event well. If this demonstration proves to hold up under replications it suggests both that therapists can induce false memories and, even more directly, that older family members play a powerful role in defining reality for dependent younger family members (p. 104)." The seven chapters in the book take us from "Betrayal Blindness," which discusses why people need to be blind to betrayals through "Conceptual Knots," which discusses problems with terminology and the implications of same. For example, "While I agree that memory repression is best understood as forgetting that is motivated in some way, I find it problematic to assume any particular motivation in the definition of the concept or repression itself (p. 19)." We need to examine "the range of phenomena, motivations and mechanisms implied by the varying uses of words like `repression,' `amnesia,' and `dissociation.'" She suggests using the "concept: knowledge isolation. Once that is done, why, how, when, and from what, knowledge is isolated can be determined, based on the resulting level of awareness of reality. Is the knowledge isolated at the time of the event? If so, is the limited material stored essentially unprocessed? Or is the knowledge instead blocked from consciousness after the event? Is the knowledge isolated following a desire to suppress awareness, or did it just seem to happen that something was not noticed or not forgotten?...This concept is useful specifically because it does not assume particular motivations, mechanisms, or resulting phenomena... we are in a better position to formulate precise and testable statements about th

By the first victim of FMSF

The daughter of the founder's of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation explores the valuable research which makes a strong case for repression/dissociation of abusive experiences in childhood. She is careful to make clear she is presenting a scientific THEORY which she calls "Betrayal Trauma." However, the research she notes to support this Theory is extremely strong and well presented. She avoids the personal voice you might expect, given her personal connection to the FMSF and it's creation, preferring to concentrate on the scientific issues at hand. She does a masterful job! This is a MUST read for any survivor of childhood trauma, for anyone involved in treating adult survivors of childhood trauma, and for anyone sincerely interested in looking at both sides of the "Memory War" with an eye for balance and truth. There are several surprises within these pages which truth seekers will appreciate. The text is well cited and eminently balanced.