Complex Trauma – The condition that perpetuates a cycle of re-victimisation.
One of the most insightful facts I have learned so far in the research I am doing into Complex-PTSD , is the theory of re victimization. This is a term used to describe the maladapted coping strategies, often used in early exposure to trauma (often children) which cause the victim to become repeatedly vulnerable to similar abuse as adults.
This resonated so deeply with my story. As a child I witnessed and was subject to abuse of every kind as a child; physical, emotional, sexual, neglect, substance abuse, abandonment. The re-victimisation for me, started at the age of 25, with one particular predator, that I had a specific type of trauma response to. This experience set me on a journey or guilt, shame and self-loathing that would re expose me to predators well into my 40s in one environment or other.
Having a clinical viewpoint based on evidence that applied so directly to my experience has been really powerful as part of my healing journey, and self- love. Reading the work of so many psychologists as well as survivors has shown me so many similarities that mirror the experiences I have had throughout my life. In some instances, I felt like the authors were writing directly to me.
It makes so much sense, that if a child is exposed to recurring abuse, they develop learned responses to keep them safe. One is the submit/comply. This strategy is an automatic response, activated by the nervous system rendering the victim unable to consciously act out any other escape. Submission chosen by the limbic system, is the method that will most likely keep them alive. This learned behaviour often comes from the fact that children are almost always smaller than their predator (often an adult care giver) and the fight response an unrealistic approach.
This learned response then develops in the neural pathways as a recognised, tried and tested behaviour, which according to the nervous system, has kept that child alive. Thus as the child develops into an adult, there are inevitably mal-adapted trauma responses, which then pre dispose the recurrence of such abuse. They have not been able to develop healthy boundaries. This is the cycle of re-victimisation.
