Victimizer Cycle

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A hypothesis commonly tested in the field of both science and psychology is that young victims of both sexual and physical abuse are more at risk of becoming an offenders than a child who is not a victim. Researchers have conducted studies assessing children who have not only been abused but have become abusers as well, since these young people seem to represent the continuation of the cycle of repetition. It has been suggested that children do not always interrupt the continuation pattern of abuse while their adolescent personality began to form. The opportunity to intervene with this cycle is often disoriented because it seems that in our caring system there is little optimism for these cases. Not much research has aimed to identify those …show more content…
They make some further points: first, that the more deviant the patient population, the higher the rates of past victimization; second, that the choice of victims is dependent on the victims’ physical characteristics, including age; and third, that there is often a tendency to abuse the victim in a way that replicates the offenders own experience of abuse. However, Researchers argue that the hypothesized ‘victim-to-victimizer’ cycle does not account for presumed protective factors that appear to inhibit the development of expression of subsequent abusive behavior, nor does it explain why most sexual abusers are male and most victims are female. It is notable from reviews of literature on victims and perpetrators that little research has been under taken into perpetrators who were not previous victims. Researchers have tended to lump all perpetrators together, irrespective of their experiences as a victim (Glasser …show more content…
First, there can be an emotional congruence in the abuser to abused/abuser relationship; second, a sexual arousal towards children; third, a blockage of emotional development; and lastly, disinhibition of normal impulse control. These factors can each be addressed by different modes of treatment. The first mode of treatment is the relationship of power and control, arising often from identification with the aggressor, and the need to overcome the shame at having been abused, which is a pattern of relationships that can be most readily addressed and remedied by a psychodynamically informed placement, whether it be a residential community or specialized foster home. These settings can provide the experience of relationships in a culture of honesty, and open communication. Second, many of the specifics of sexual arousal toward children can be addressed by cognitive behavioral therapy. The development of masturbatory fantasies, the cognitive distortions to include children in these fantasies and, above all, the evasion of responsibility can be examined and modified in the cognitive behavioral framework. However, these aspects can also be brought into the field of attention of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, which can provide an essential place for working through. Finkelhor’s third factor, blockage of emotional development, is more clearly the province of psychodynamic psychotherapy. In above
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