Abusive predators seek the most vulnerable as their prey and strike when the opportunity best presents itself. Many targets are those who have already been targeted in the past. The scars and emotional trauma associated with initial abuse signal opportunity for the predator to strike a new victim who has already once been injured. Counselors in trauma need to be aware of the potential for someone who has been abused to be abused again. This is why the work of healing is so critical. Healing helps the person find wholeness again and find strength in everyday life to proceed in a healthy way that can better equip the victim/survivor to protect oneself from future abuse at anyone’s hands. In this short blog, we will look at the most vulnerable for re-victimization as well as the open wounds of unhealed trauma that present opportunities for predators and abuses to inflict more trauma on past victims.
Please also review AIHCP’s Trauma Informed Care Program, as well as its Crisis Intervention Certification and other Behavioral Health Certifications for qualified professionals seeking certification.
At Risk Populations
Naturally the marginalized, isolated, and injured populations present opportunistic targets for predators. As a predator in nature monitors the the herd of prey, it looks for members who seem and appear physically weaker or isolated or confused or who are already injured. Likewise, human predators and abusers look for those in society that are an easier target with less chance of fighting back physically or emotionally and as well those who mentally possess low self esteem and emotional disorders. This protects them and lowers the chance for reprisal or being apprehended. This is the nature of an abuser-cowardice and opportunistic.
Some populations that are natural targets for any type of abuse include children, the elderly, emotionally and mentally comprised and those with disabilities (Compton, 2024, p.124). Hence individuals within these categories present excellent targets by the abuser not only for initial abuse but also fall into re-victimization themselves. Counselors and safe-guarders need to be aware of these target populations and look to protect them from potential dangerous environments, especially ones with previous abuse history.
What Makes the Risk Higher for Re-victimization?
Ultimately lack of healing from the initial abuse makes someone a higher risk for re-victimization at the hands of abuser or predator. The lack of healing injures the very soul of the person and prevents them from integrating into society. Many enter into maladaptive coping strategies to numb the pain of the trauma or enter into unhealthy relationships due to low self esteem and again find themselves in the same patterns.
Compton points out that attachment deficits, emotion regulation disruptions and cognitive distortions play key roles in making victims susceptible to future abuse. Compton points out that children and others who have continually experienced abuse have been stripped healthy of attachments that non-abused individuals experience with family and caregivers. Instead of a loving and caring family that promises safety and security, abused individuals live in a world of uncertainty, terror and no safety. This drastically alters their ability to understand normal relations, much less form future healthy attachments with other people. Instead of finding secure bonds, many abused that never find healing, find themselves in the same situation with a different person. The individual ultimately expects abuse as a norm (2024, p. 125-126). Hence when approached or targeted, many abused are familiar with it. While they may seek to escape it or fear it, they do not respond as an un-abused person. Instead many either isolate, feel the re-traumatization, and become unwilling victims not understanding why or how to escape.
Compton also refers to emotional regulation disruptions. Like anyone with PTSD or trauma, unresolved trauma resides in the subconscious. It remains trapped in the emotional part of the brain, not properly filed within the intellectual part. The trauma is dis-fragmented and the horrible nature of the trauma continues to haunt a person. Hence when a person experiences a similar sound, or scent, or visual of the past trauma, the body responds emotionally without rationale into a fight, flight or freeze mode. This is a common state of hyperarousal that many with PTSD or trauma experience. The long term defensive mechanisms for this unhealed trauma results in isolation from other people, as well as numbing through alcohol or other drugs, as well as lashing out at others, Abusers target those who are isolated, friendless, or who are intoxicated or in need of drugs to numb their pain (2024, p. 127-128). in the mind of an abuser, an isolated individual has no-one for support and a drug user is far from reliable as a witness.
Finally, cognitive distortions can persist in the unhealed victim. Without counseling and cognitive therapies to correct incorrect perceptions of self, the abused develops an poor image of self and the value of one’s body. The very design of sexuality and its purpose can also be distorted. Victims reflect low self esteem, misuse of sex as a way to find instant gratification, or allow one’s body to be used by others. This can result in how a victim interacts with others, dresses, or expects to be touched or touches others (Compton, 2024, p. 128-129). These cognitive distortions, views of one’s body, or the misinformed nature of sex, open many unhealed victims to new abusers who can use these distortions to their advantage in luring the victim back into abuse.
Why Not Find Help?
It is easy as non-traumatized individuals to ask this question but if someone is injured through abuse or trauma, the whole self is injured. Until the whole self again finds healing, purpose and meaning and the issues of emotional, cognitive and bonds are corrected, then many never seek help or even report the initial abuse. In addition, those who seek help may feel intimidated, labeled, judged, or felt no-one will believe them.
Some may feel embarrassed over the abuse. During fight, flight or freeze, survivors make a choice in how to respond to the violence. Some individuals may fight, others may try to escape, or others my freeze in utter fear. We see this constantly in horror movies. As we shout at the television screen, for the person to fight back or run, we see some literally freeze. Maybe subconsciously an individual feels if they have a better chance of not fighting back and allowing the abuse to occur in hopes of survival as opposed to being kills in an attempted act of self defense. It is very hard to understand why some individuals fight, flight or freeze, but after traumatic events, the brain thinks back. There is survival guilt for some in war or shootings where the individual re-analyzes their reactions. This can lead to shame, or guilt or regret. Some in abuse, may feel they should have screamed, or fought back, while others lament the fact, that despite the abuse, in some cases, of sex, part of the physical engagement was pleasurable. This is especially true in the case of men who find themselves raped by women abusers. Others who are raped or molested may feel like a “whore” or if a man is assaulted by a man, feel as if their sexuality is now questioned and feel ashamed about being labeled a sexuality that they are not (Compton, 2024, p. 130-131).
Others may feel no-one will believe them and in some cases, authorities do not always believe. Parents may doubt a story of their child about a pastor or coach, or a church member may dismiss a report about a priest, or a police detective may question the details of an abuse story, but when help is not given, re-victimization can occur. One thing to remember, victims of severe trauma have fragmented memories. The brain is protecting the person from the trauma by fogging many of the details. Since the trauma is not properly filed and stored in the intellectual pre-frontal cortex of the brain, the emotional centers of the brain collect the trauma and revisit it through affective disturbances that involve similar sounds, sights, or scents. A similar cologne of an abuser can send a victim into a flash back of the horrible abuse, or a the backfire of a car can send a military veteran back to a war scene. Hence triggers play a key role, as well as intrusive memories, in taking the victim back to the initial trauma, while in regular conscious states, the victim may not recount completely every detail regarding the abuse. The details haunt, but the general story remains the same. This type of lack of detail can sometimes make others doubt a survivor/victim, but a trained professional should see the overwhelming evidence of trauma induced PTSD that reflects far greater evidence of abuse than mere details (Compton, 2024, p. 131-132)
When reporting never occurs, or when authorities do not believe victims, re-victimization usually occurs later in life. It is hence important to prevent future re-victimization to believe the abused. Counselors, pastors, and even friends need to believe and encourage disclosure and when legally required report the incidents to protect the victim. As a safeguarder and protector, one has the unique opportunity to help reconnect to a injured person and help them again find wholeness, meaning and justice (Compton, 2024, p. 133).
Conclusion
It is truly sad that anyone is a victim of any type of abuse in this world. It is especially horrific that individuals who find no healing continue to find themselves in a cycle of abuse at the hands of predators and abusers. It is important for behavioral healthcare and health providers, as well as pastoral caregivers, families and friends to recognize the signs the abuse, as well as to understand those who are potential victims for possible future abuse. This involves utilization of trauma informed care practices that encourage disclosure through safe environments, as well as transparency, empathy, trust, and the utilization of therapeutic skills to help the person again find healing and meaning.
Please also review AIHCP’s Trauma Informed Care Program as well as its many Behavioral Health Certifications
Additional Blogs
Authority and Abuse- Click here
Sexual Assault and Abuse- Click here
Resource
Compton, L & Patterson, T (2024). “Skills for Safeguarding: A Guide to Preventing Abuse and Fostering Healing in the Church”. Academic
Additional Resources
Marie, S. (2024). “Abuse Survivors Can Be Revictimized — Here’s What You Should Know”. Healthline. Access here
Gillette, H. (2022). “Can Family Members Revictimize Sexual Abuse Survivors?”. PsychCentral. Access here
Patrick, W. (2022), “Why Some Sexual Assault Victims Are Revictimized”. Psychology Today. Access here
Pittenger, S. et al. (2019). “Predicting Sexual Revictimization in Childhood and Adolescence: A Longitudinal Examination Using Ecological Systems Theory”.
Child Maltreat . Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 May 1. PubMed. Access here