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Toward an Understanding of Self-Defeating Responses Following Victimization

  • Chapter
Self-Defeating Behaviors

Part of the book series: The Plenum Series in Social / Clinical Psychology ((SSSC))

Abstract

Victims—of crime, violence, abuse, disease, serious accidents, natural disasters—generally experience considerable psychological distress. It is not difficult to comprehend common victim reactions such as disbelief, confusion, fear, anxiety, and hypervigilance. Typically, we recognize that bad things happen, but we never truly believe they will happen to us; when misfortune strikes, we are shocked, confused, and anxious. In addition to these “comprehensible” reactions, victims also often manifest responses, generally patterns of thought, that appear far more incomprehensible to others. The victim appears to be adding insult to injury, to be choosing to suffer even more than appears warranted by the actual victimization.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, 01003, USA

    Ronnie Janoff-Bulman & Carol E. Thomas

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  1. Ronnie Janoff-Bulman
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  2. Carol E. Thomas
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Adelphi University, Garden City, New York, USA

    Rebecca C. Curtis

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© 1989 Plenum Press, New York

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Janoff-Bulman, R., Thomas, C.E. (1989). Toward an Understanding of Self-Defeating Responses Following Victimization. In: Curtis, R.C. (eds) Self-Defeating Behaviors. The Plenum Series in Social / Clinical Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0783-9_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0783-9_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-8080-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-0783-9

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