Trauma and Victimization

Abstract

The topics of victimization and traumatic stress have become focal issues within the last two decades. This article synthesizes theoretical and empirical findings about psychological responses to traumatization across survivors of rape, childhood sexual or physical abuse, domestic violence, crime, disasters, and the Vietnam war. Five major categories of response, emotional, cognitive, biological, behavioral, and interpersonal, are described. Based on these findings, the authors present a new theoretical model for understanding individual variations in victim responses. In this model, they propose a complex relation among traumatic experiences, cognitive schemas within the areas of safety, trust, power, esteem, and intimacy, and psychological adaptation. Implications for assessment, treatment intervention, and further research within the area of traumatic stress are discussed.