The conflict between the will to deny horrible events and the will to proclaim them aloud is the central dialectic of psychological trauma.
Judith Lewis HermanRead
Over time as most people fail the survivor's exacting test of trustworthiness, she tends to withdraw from relationships. The isolation of the survivor thus persists even after she is free.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights how survivors, particularly those who have faced betrayal, often struggle to trust others and withdraw from relationships even after escaping harmful situations.
Judith Lewis Herman illustrates the long-lasting effects of trauma on survivors, particularly emphasizing that their experiences can lead to difficulties in establishing trust within personal relationships. As these individuals have often been let down by those they relied on, they may retreat into isolation, making it challenging to connect with others, even when they are no longer in a harmful environment. This withdrawal is a painful consequence of their past experiences, reflecting the emotional scars that can persist long after the physical dangers have passed.
Themes
TrustSurvivorIsolationRelationshipsTraumaEmotional Scars
In practice
Example use cases
In a support group for survivors of trauma, this quote could help initiate a discussion about trust issues in relationships.
More from Judith Lewis Herman
All quotes →The legal system is designed to protect men from the superior power of the state but not to protect women or children from the superior power of men. It therefore provides strong guarantees for the rights of the accused but essentially no guarantees for the rights of the victim. If one set out by design to devise a system for provoking intrusive post-traumatic symptoms, one could not do better than a court of law.
Judith Lewis HermanRead
... in practice the standard for what constitutes rape is set not at the level of women's experience of violation but just above the level of coercion acceptable to men.
Judith Lewis HermanRead
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