Betrayal Trauma: The Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse [Hardcover]

Jennifer J. Freyd (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 067406805X | ISBN-13: 978-0674068056 | Publication Date: January 1, 1996 | Edition: 1

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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Jennifer J. Freyd understands the operation of memory in both professional and personal terms. As an academic psychologist, Professor Freyd has researched the psychological processes of memory and the physiological operation of the mind. In Betrayal Trauma, she uses the generally accepted findings of cognitive science to formulate a psychological theory of recovered memory. But Jennifer J. Freyd's interests and involvement in the study of recovered memories is not strictly academic. During her research, Freyd "uncovered" her own memories of childhood abuse. Her parents, who vehemently denied her allegations, have helped found an organization to support others "falsely accused" by individuals with "recovered memories" of abuse. Freyd's personal stake in the subject matter ironically causes her to go the extra mile in maintaining professional objectivity. While partisan detractors of other stripes will likely disagree, most of Freyd's well-written study sticks to the scientific processes that could supply an explanatory basis for forgetting and remembering traumatic experiences. Freyd mostly eschews victimology. She even considers how artificial memories could be the result of bad psychotherapy. Betrayal Trauma outlines a compelling thesis of how memory operates that addresses a controversial topic with great aplomb.

From Kirkus Reviews

A cognitive psychologist heats up the debate about recovered memories of childhood abuse by presenting her theory of why and how such memories may be repressed. Freyd (Psychology/Univ. of Oregon) argues that the childhood traumas that are most likely to be forgotten are those in which betrayal is a central factor. According to her betrayal trauma theory, forgetting certain kinds of betrayal, such as sexual abuse by a parent or trusted caretaker, is an adaptive behavior, for by blocking out knowledge of the abuse the child aligns with the caregiver and thus ensures his or her own survival. Such information blockage is not unique to childhood sexual abuse, the author argues, but a common response to everyday betrayals by trusted individuals, be they spouses or bosses or other authority figures. Freyd cites numerous studies to back her assertion that the forgetting and later remembering of childhood sexual abuse is real and well documented, and she illustrates the phenomenon with extensive excerpts from the recollections of Ross Cheit, a college professor whose recovered memories of sexual abuse by an administrator at a summer camp were subsequently corroborated. To explain the underlying cognitive mechanisms, Freyd describes research that she is conducting with both college students and clinical populations. While not directly tackling the issue of whether memories of childhood abuse may be false, Freyd offers support to those who claim they are real by rejecting the view that memory repression is impossible or implausible. In an afterword, she acknowledges the role that her private life has played in her development of betrayal trauma theory and notes that her parents are founding members of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (which supports parents whose children have accused them of sexual abuse on the basis of recovered memories). Although Freyd argues persuasively, it seems unlikely that her theory will end the debate or that its critics will disregard her personal history in considering its validity. (20 line illustrations) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press; 1 edition (January 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067406805X
• ISBN-13: 978-0674068056
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #527,369 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

81 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best book on traumatic memory controversy, August 19, 1999

By 

Patience Mason, Post-Traumatic Gazette, ptg@p... (High Springs, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Betrayal Trauma: The Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse (Paperback)

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 the phenomena, the motivations, and the mechanisms (p. 26-27)." Chapter 3, Context and Controversy, details the current controversy with scrupulous fairness. She is also scrupulous in detailing what is known about how children and many abuse survivors do not reveal the whole story all at once: this used to be taken as proof they were making it up, but it now appears they are testing the waters out of fear of others' reactions (which turns out to be pretty well justified) and also because only parts of the experience are remembered at first. We have all had that experience. Even pleasant memories come back slowly. Traumatic ones can, too. Attempts to implant false memories in a 1995 study showed that a few people will remember a false event that is familiar (being lost in a shopping mall). None of them remembered a false event that wasn't familiar (having an enema). Dr. Freyd points out another small disrespectful action on the part of media and FMS spokespeople: They always use the first names of victims of child sexual abuse and the last names of their supposedly innocent parents. Chapter 4, Why Forget? details the reasons why the survival of a child may depend on not noticing or forgetting what its parents are doing so it can bond with them and receive care. Chapter 5, Ways Of Forgetting discusses them in the context of the latest in scientific studies and also details available studies about early childhood memories. Lots of very interesting science throughout this book. Chapter 6, Testable Predictions, discusses what the available scientific laboratory and clinical evidence suggests about forgetting trauma and how we can study these ideas to see if they are true. Chapter 7, Creating Connections, answers the question of why bring it up years later. The answer is to make this world a better place where instead of not talking about abuse, we don't do it. from the Post-Traumatic Gazette copyright 1996-Patience Mason

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Uncommon Objectivity, October 31, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Betrayal Trauma: The Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse (Hardcover)

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.

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Has been extremely helpful in my recovery, July 27, 2004

By 

Kathleen A. Sullivan (Chattanooga TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Betrayal Trauma: The Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse (Paperback)

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.