Department of Psychology, University of Oregon.
Am Psychol. 2014 Sep;69(6):575-87. doi: 10.1037/a0037564.
A college freshman reports a sexual assault and is met with harassment and insensitive investigative practices leading to her suicide. Former grade school students, now grown, come forward to report childhood abuse perpetrated by clergy, coaches, and teachers--first in trickles and then in waves, exposing multiple perpetrators with decades of unfettered access to victims. Members of the armed services elect to stay quiet about sexual harassment and assault during their military service or risk their careers by speaking up. A Jewish academic struggles to find a name for the systematic destruction of his people in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. These seemingly disparate experiences have in common trusted and powerful institutions (schools, churches, military, government) acting in ways that visit harm upon those dependent on them for safety and well-being. This is institutional betrayal. The purpose of this article is to describe psychological research that examines the role of institutions in traumatic experiences and psychological distress following these experiences. We demonstrate the ways in which institutional betrayal has been left unseen by both the individuals being betrayed as well as the field of psychology and introduce means by which to identify and address this betrayal.
一名大学新生报告了一起性侵犯事件，却遭遇了骚扰和不敏感的调查，导致她自杀。曾经的小学生，现在已经长大成人，纷纷站出来报告神职人员、教练和教师对他们实施的童年虐待——先是涓涓细流，然后是汹涌澎湃，揭露了数十年来肆无忌惮地接触受害者的多名施害者。武装部队成员选择对服役期间的性骚扰和性侵犯保持沉默，或者通过发言来冒险他们的职业生涯。一名犹太学者努力为纳粹德国在大屠杀期间对他的人民的系统性毁灭找到一个名称。这些看似截然不同的经历有一个共同点，即受信任和有权势的机构（学校、教堂、军队、政府）采取行动，对那些依赖他们获得安全和福祉的人造成伤害。这就是机构背叛。本文的目的是描述心理学研究，该研究考察了机构在创伤经历以及经历这些经历后的心理困扰中所扮演的角色。我们展示了被背叛的个人以及心理学领域如何忽视机构背叛的方式，并介绍了识别和解决这种背叛的方法。
