Criminological Analysis of Psychological Trauma and the Behavior of the Victim of Childhood Maltreatment

Abstract

This study analyzes psychological trauma as a unique, devastating, suffering-filled experience that the victim experiences and cannot escape from. The consequences of childhood sexual abuse fundamentally change the victim's perception of social values, forming a devalued perception of their own identity. The history of the victim's behavior is represented by a chain of moral feelings and experiences, with the survivor's personality defined by the essence of these emotions, hidden and separated in another identity for fear of not having discovered the truth of their trauma. Out of the desire to escape the unbearable guilt complex, the victim, who has become a young adult, renounces the moral function and objectifies his will within the criminogenic process in order to satisfy the demands of uncontrollable destructive drives. An unusual transference process takes place: the young adult, a victim of sexual abuse in childhood, discovers in his affective memory a compulsive admiration for the will to power of the one who mistreated him. The aggressor is perceived by the traumatized one in a distorted way as an individual who will never know suffering because he uses violence and has absolute power over the victim. By taking action, the victim who has become an aggressor tries to escape the trauma and humiliation. KEYWORDS: psychological trauma, maltreatment, homicidal ideation, will objectification