In the labyrinth of family dynamics lies a dark underbelly often veiled by the facade of harmony and love. Betrayal Trauma, Family Mobbing, and Family Scapegoating Abuse (FSA) are three interwoven phenomena that thrive in the shadows of familial relationships, leaving deep scars on the psyche of those ensnared within their grasp…
Family, typically regarded as a sanctuary of love and support, can sometimes harbor complex dynamics that lead to unexpected forms of conflict and distress, as well as covert or overt forms of individual and/or systemic abuse. One such phenomenon that qualifies as systemic abuse is family mobbing, a term often associated with workplace bullying but equally applicable within familial settings, particularly as related to the phenomenon I named family scapegoating abuse (FSA)…
Summary: Women often face heightened scrutiny and obstacles in having their qualifications and skills recognized and valued compared to men due to societal biases and internalized misogyny. This issue stems from ingrained gender stereotypes and a lack of inclusive environments that support gender equality. In this article, Rebecca C. Mandeville reflects on women, marginalization, and scapegoating dynamics, and gets a bit more personal regarding her own background and experiences with these individual and systemic realities.
I’ve noticed within the Mental Health field that the scapegoating of a child or adult child is frequently referred to as a form of ‘verbal abuse’, which I find concerning and somewhat misleading, given that FSA is driven by psycho-emotional, systemic processes in dysfunctional or narcissistic family systems, hence it can be covert, insidious and subtle…
Reactive abuse is when someone who is a victim of abuse (family scapegoating abuse, in this case) reacts to the abuse in such a manner that if an outside person were to be a fly on the wall observing, it would make it look like they, and not the perpetrator, are the abuser.