Betrayal is at the heart of being scapegoated. Betrayal is the constant in all the examples shared in this article. When exploring our scapegoating histories we see that our trauma doesn’t just come from the hurtful actions, the cruel words, the painful neglect and humiliations, or the psychological wounds wielded out by family members. Our trauma extends beyond tangible incidents: It permeates our psyches and our physiology…
Abuse of any type can result in the victim experiencing complex trauma and betrayal trauma, which can in turn lead to dissociation….
Those who were cast in the role of “identified patient” in their dysfunctional or abusive family system are subjected to pains and losses that in many cases have no clearly defined name, and are not even on the radar of the professionals and clinicians brought in to help. Furthermore, the scapegoat’s pains are often ignored, denied and even used against them by those who claim to care about them and love them most…
Access video discussion on my YouTube channel @beyondfamilyscapegoatingabuse.
For many scapegoated adults, the difficult reality is that repair and reunion with their family simply isn’t possible. For some, it is a conscious choice to stay away from their toxic family system as attempting to re-integrate would result in further psycho-emotional injury. Others were unceremoniously ‘ejected’ from their family-of-origin when they began to assert boundaries or call out the abuse, making any type of reconciliation both undesirable and impossible.
In this week’s article I share one of the biggest myths about going no contact with family and how I handle issues related to ending contact with scapegoating family members in a trauma-informed manner.
Based on feedback, this clinically-oriented guest author post will be revised to more directly address narcissism versus abusive narcissism as related to the experiences and treatment needs of family scapegoating abuse survivors. Thank you for your comments and suggestions!
In this article, I discuss the Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST) model and why I choose to use this particular trauma treatment modality in my private psychotherapy practice when working with clients who are suffering from Family Scapegoating Abuse (FSA) and Complex Trauma symptoms.
In this article, I share several signs of Structural Dissociation that Family Scapegoating Abuse Adult Survivors and Mental Health providers need to be aware of to ensure successful treatment of this most egregious form of ‘invisible (psycho-emotional) abuse.
To recover from something, you need to understand what you’re trying to recover from. In this week’s article, I discuss the clinical consequences of being scapegoated by your family that I have identified via my research on what I named ‘Family Scapegoating Abuse’ (FSA) and in my trauma-informed Coaching and Psychotherapy practices. If you would prefer to access my video discussion on FSA clinical signs, scroll down to the end of this article (I also include video chapters beneath the video).
