Victims' Response to Trauma and Implications for Interventions: A Selected Review and Synthesis of the Literature
1. INTRODUCTION
The process of victimization does not end with the crime. Trauma associated with criminal behaviour can affect how the person views themselves, their world and their relationships. According to theory, trauma and loss have the potential to threaten both one's sense of meaning in life (i.e., they may threaten significant aspects of one's self-concept), as well as the assumptions one holds about the comprehensibility and meaningfulness of events. Furthermore, trauma does not end in the physical realm; the psychological effects of trauma can be longstanding and potentially debilitating. This review focuses on one possible outcome of crime victimization: cognitive changes. However, in examining victimization one is struck by the fact that one cannot easily focus on one psychological element, but that any cognitive change will affect the entire person. Problem-solving ability, coping skills, personal, social and work relationships can all become compromised by cognitive changes. The focus of this review and synthesis is to identify cognitive changes that are related to crime victimization and relate this to clinical issues around interventions. However, this requires a broad approach as one uncovers the complexities of the victim's psychological world.
One of the challenges of the present review is that there is little empirical research in the area of cognitive changes in victimization. Fortunately, some extrapolation from related research areas can be generalized to this question, but this requires some tenuous leaps. For example, research on the effects of trauma may be applicable to victims. We can then examine cognitive changes related to trauma, extrapolating these results to victims who experience trauma associated with victimization. For this reason, this review needs to be seen as a first step in understanding the complexities of cognitive changes.
Although it's unusual to begin such a report with caveats, there are several issues that must remain in the reader's mind as he or she reads this document:
- First, in any discussion of victims (the process of becoming a victim, changes in victims and treatment/labelling of victims), one can understandably lose sight of the broader system. It is important to note that victims exist within a larger, sometimes pathological, system that may continue to create difficulty and trauma. As Gorman (2001) indicated, one should be careful in limiting one's focus on the specific characteristics of the victim and, thereby, ignoring the inherent injustice of victimization itself. In the following document, it is important to remember that although the focus is on the intrapsychic and internal world of the victim, this is only one aspect of victimization. The author has taken steps to avoid victim-blaming, however literature focused on certain aspects of victimization (e.g., victimization risk factors) can be misused in this manner. The goal of this review is understanding, not attribution of blame.
- Second, much of the literature reviewed in this document includes both official victims (i. e., those who made official contact with the criminal justice system) and those who have self-reported victimization (some may have contacted officials, other's not). The reason for this was the need to cast a wide net to gain any understanding of how victimization affects the cognitive, emotional and behavioural world of the victim. However, this inclusiveness will affect generalizability to any specific group, thus one should be conservative in applying the results. The document is best used to generate hypotheses and testing new research and intervention avenues.
- Third, whenever possible, research results are based upon crime victims. However, in an effort to better examine cognitive changes, other groups have been included to fill the gaps. Generally, these groups have been victims of other trauma (war, accident, natural disasters) or of loss. It is likely that there will be some parallels between these various groups but, again, this reinforces the need for further research focused on crime victims.
Finally, throughout this paper, a crime victim will be defined as a person who has directly experienced and suffered because of a specific illegal or violent act. This does not negate the damage received by loved-ones or supports to the victim through the process of vicarious victimization. These supports may also suffer psychologically, socially or financially (depending on the nature crime) and may deal with many of the same issues. However, the focus of this paper will be on the primary victims of crime, with some discussion of secondary victims as required.
This having been said, the following review and synthesis aims to integrate a wide research and applied literature to gain insight about the victim's world. Cognitive changes will have a profound impact on the victim, affecting their coping, problem-solving, behavioural and social world. One can hypothesize that certain victims may have little psychological change as a result of victimization (e.g., minor crimes with no contact with perpetrator) whereas others will experience victimization as a permanent life-changing event. The goal of this review is to examine this literature and some of the implications of the findings.
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