Writing About Betrayal Trauma: Examining Gender and Narrative Structure

In Pennebaker's writing paradigm, participants are instructed either to write about emotional events or neutral topics. Those assigned to the emotional writing condition typically display physical and psychological health improvements (Pennebaker, 1997; Smyth, 1998). Up until now, the writing paradigm has for the most part been applied to events which have been described as emotional but not specifically traumatic. Betrayal trauma is perpetrated by someone who is close to the victim and has been associated with various negative consequences. Sixty-five university undergraduates (51 female, 14 male) were randomly assigned to write either about a distressing interpersonal event they experienced during childhood or how they spent their time during the previous day. Over 50% of all participants reported having experienced at least one betrayal trauma, women reported more betrayal trauma than men, and betrayal trauma and health measures were found to be negatively related. While a main effect of writing on symptomatology reduction was not found, a significant gender by writing condition interaction emerged, which revealed that, in general, women in the trauma writing condition benefited more than men. Examination of the essays points to the importance of narrative structure in predicting outcome.This study was made possible by funding from the University of Oregon Foundation Fund for Research on Trauma and Oppression (PI, J. Freyd), and the University of Oregon Graduate Education Committee

Exploring the Potential of Pennebaker’s Writing Paradigm on Betrayal Trauma Sequelae

In Pennebaker's writing paradigm, participants are instructed either to write about emotional events or neutral topics. Those assigned to the emotional writing condition typically display physical and psychological health improvements as compared to those who write about something neutral (Pennebaker, 1997; Smyth, 1998). Up until now, the writing paradigm has for the most part been applied to events which have been described as emotional but not specifically traumatic and those few studies that have looked at the effect of writing about traumatic experiences have only involved one-time non-complex traumas. There is evidence that the consequences of one-time traumas are different than those of continuous, complex traumas, such as child abuse. Furthermore, betrayal trauma theory (Freyd, 1996, 2001) distinguishes traumas on the basis of two event dimensions which may elicit different reactions: life-threat (e.g. major car accident; violent rape by a stranger) and social betrayal (e.g. abuse by a close other). Betrayal trauma is perpetrated by someone who is close to the victim and/or upon whom the victim is dependent. Such events are associated with unawareness and impaired memory for the trauma, presumably for the purpose of preserving the victim-perpetrator relationship. Exposure to betrayal trauma has been associated with various negative sequelae. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the generalizability of Pennebaker's Paradigm to betrayal trauma. A secondary goal of the study was to help elucidate the mechanism behind this phenomenon by analyzing the content of the essays using Pennebaker's Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC; Pennebaker, Francis & Booth, 2001), and rating the essays in terms of characteristics hypothesized to play important roles in the effect of writing, such as coherence, presence of emotion words, narrative point of view, and development over time. Sixty-five physically symptomatic university undergraduates (51 female, 14 male; mean age = 19.94 years, SD = 3.86) were randomly assigned to one of two writing conditions. Participants in the traumatic condition were asked to write about a distressing interpersonal event they experienced during childhood and those in the neutral condition were asked to write about how they spent their time during the previous day. They wrote about their assigned topic twice, one week apart. All participants were administered abuse inventories, and pre and posttest physical and psychological health questionnaires. Over 50% of all participants reported having experienced at least one betrayal trauma and women reported more betrayal trauma than men. Betrayal trauma and health measures were found to be negatively related. A significant gender by writing condition interaction emerged, which revealed that, in general, women in the trauma writing condition benefited more than men. Closer examination of the content and structure of the essays revealed interesting patterns between certain writing components and outcome measures. These findings suggest that it would be fruitful to consider the type of trauma experienced by a person when determining the best intervention. In addition, directing the writing process to include those components found to be related to outcomes may enhance the effectiveness of a writing intervention. This needs to be tested in a controlled experimental trial. Future research is also recommended to replicate these findings in a larger and less homogenous population.This study was made possible in part by the funding from the University of Oregon Foundation Fund for Research on Trauma and Oppression (PI, J. Freyd), University of Oregon Graduate Education Committee

Physical Health, Psychological Distress, and Betrayal Trauma

Numerous studies have revealed an association between trauma and adverse physical and mental health status. While the relation is well established, the mechanisms underlying this link are less well understood. In the current study we sought to distinguish impact on health arising from types of trauma as indicated by betrayal trauma theory (Freyd 1996, 2001), with an eye toward eventually uncovering mechanisms and developing interventions. Betrayal trauma theory distinguishes two dimensions as primary for events that cause long lasting harm to people: life-threat (e.g. major car accident; urban violence) and social betrayal (e.g. abuse by a close other). We recruited 99 community adults who reported at least 12 months of chronic medical or pain problems for a longitudinal intervention study. Participants were assessed for trauma history and physical and mental symptoms. Trauma assessment included measuring exposure to both traumas high in betrayal and traumas low in betrayal (but high in life-threat). Associations between overall trauma exposure and negative health and mental status were found. High betrayal was particularly potent. For instance, exposure to traumas with high betrayal is significantly correlated with number of physical illness symptoms (r=.37), anxiety symptoms (r = .49), and depression symptoms (r=.45). Multiple regression analyses predicting these symptoms from betrayal trauma exposure reveal that adding exposure to trauma with less betrayal into the model changes R-square statistics very little, and these changes are not significant. This pattern of results has been replicated with data recently collected in our laboratory using a different population. In addition, interesting gender effects are emerging. With the large amount of variance in symptoms predicted by exposure to high betrayal trauma, we are focusing on uncovering mechanisms and evaluating the health consequences of an intervention that involves writing about reactions to these events.This research was supported by the Northwest Health Foundation Grant Number 2001-255 Child Abuse and Health: An Intervention (Freyd, PI). The manuscript preparation was also supported in part by the Trauma and Oppression Research Fund at the University of Oregon Foundation

Lack of precision, misleading implications, and ethical issues arising from the use of the label "false memory" for errors in word memory

This information will be reported in DePrince, A.P., Allard, C., Oh, H., & Freyd, J.J. (in press). What’s in a name for memory errors? Implications and ethical issues arising from the use of the label “false memory” for errors in memory for details. Ethics & Behavior.Since 1995, psychologists have increasingly used the term "false memory" to describe memory errors for details (e.g., errors for words learned in a list); such errors in details were once referred to by other terms, such as "intrusions". "False memories" is also used to refer to suggestibility experiments in which whole events are apparently confabulated and in media accounts of contested memories of childhood abuse. We examined use of the term "false memory/ies" to describe 1.) suggestibility for, or confabulation of, entire events or 2.) errors in details. Using the keyword "false memory/ies", journal articles published between 1992 and August 2003 were identified. Editorials, commentaries, responses to other articles, and book reviews were excluded. Of the 397 articles collected, 222 (55.9%) were empirical reports. Approximately 70% of empirical articles used the term "false memory/ies" to refer to error in details. The shift in language away from prior terms such as "memory intrusions" to a new use of the term "false memory" presents serious ethical challenges to the data-interpretation process by encouraging over-generalization and misapplication of research findings on word memory to social issues. The research and ethical implications of the new use of the term will be discussed

Adult trauma and adult symptoms: Does childhood trauma drive the relationship?

We used structural modeling to examine observed relationships between childhood trauma, adult trauma, and adult dissociation and mental health. We propose a model in which childhood betrayal trauma predicts adult betrayal trauma and dissociation, and dissociation predicts mental health. Paths between adult betrayal trauma and dissociation, and adult betrayal trauma and mental health were set at zero. This model was tested using questionnaire data from 307 undergraduates. The model fit the data very well (comparative fit index = .98, chi-square(df = 8) = 21.99), and performed as well as other less parsimonious models. Alternative equivalent models and implications of these findings are discussed. The pattern of parameter estimates generated for this model suggests that childhood trauma drives the relationship between trauma and symptoms.Supported in part by the Trauma and Oppression Research Fund at the University of Oregon Foundation

Are All Traumatic Events Equal? Further Research Using the BBTS

The Brief Betrayal Trauma Survey (BBTS; Goldberg & Freyd, 2004) assesses potentially traumatic childhood and adulthood experiences, which can be categorized as high in betrayal (HB) or low in betrayal (LB) depending on whether the perpetrator was close or not close to the respondent. Previous research has provided support for betrayal trauma theory (Freyd, 1996) in revealing that, while LB predicts psychological distress in adulthood, HB traumas explain significantly more of the predictive variance. In the present study, changes in the BBTS were introduced in an effort to increase its interpretability and validity, and further tests of betrayal trauma theory are being conducted. Our preliminary findings are consistent with previous research in that HB events significantly predict higher levels of dissociation, depression, and anxiety symptoms than do LB events. In our sample of young adults, childhood HB events alone, and not events experienced in adulthood, predict increased symptomatology. Furthermore, those childhood HB events that were directly experienced explain the most variance, whereas those that were witnessed or heard about do not contribute to the predictive associations. These findings have implications for conceptualizations of traumas, their sequelae, and their treatment.Supported in part by the Trauma and Oppression Research Fund at the University of Oregon Foundation