Betrayal Trauma
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Macro (i.e. systemic-medical systems, political leadership, healthcare systems, etc)
Micro-level (i.e. direct relationships-lover, friend, family member, colleague, etc)
Self-betrayal (i.e. imposter syndrome, ignoring gut intuition or breaking promises to oneself)
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Betrayal in leadership roles often leads to…
Second guessing / gaslighting oneself
Hyper-vigilance in negotiations and relationships
Decision paralysis or over-control
Sleep disruption, emotional numbing and/or suppressed anger
Loss of confidence in one’s judgment even when performance remains high
Various forms of betrayal trauma
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Childhood sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse is not solely restricted to physical contact; such abuse could include non-contact abuse, such as exposure, voyeurism and/or child pornography.
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Betrayal of an employee
High Employee Involvement: Around 75% of employees admit to stealing from their employer at least once, and 41% steal in multiple ways.
Source U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs
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Healthcare insurance
An analysis of more than 441 million Optum claim remits shows denials are trending up and putting billions at risk annually.
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Institutional betrayal trauma: military sexual assault
A total of 8,195 reports of sexual assault against military service workers were received across the DoD in FY 2024.
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Infidelity
Infidelity impacts a significant portion of marriages. Research indicates that about 20% of married men and 13% of married women report cheating on their spouses.
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Legalized sexual exploitation
Ms. Farideh Karimi, a member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and a human rights activist, on Friday described the Iranian regime’s marriage laws as "institutionalized pedophilia."
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Religious institutional betrayal
The mullahs’ regime is trying to present its institutionalized pedophilia to the international community under the guise of national culture and customs; yet its fundamentalist laws have nothing to do with Iranian culture and are based on a fundamentalist interpretation of religion.
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Moral injury
Post October 7 for Jews: A particularly relevant subtype in the context of systemic failures is the potentially morally injurious experience of betrayal (PMIE-Betrayal), involving perceived betrayals by trusted authorities, institutions or leaders expected to protect and uphold safety, especially in high-stakes situations.
Source Journal of Psychiatric Research Volume 192, January 2026, Pages 296-301
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Medical abuse
Every year, thousands of male and female medical patients are putting their lives in the hands of a licensed medical professional.
Unfortunately, some medical professionals break their own moral code of conduct and take advantage of vulnerable patients.
Michelle Iankowitz experienced this personally when she saw a chiropractor for treatment. However, she also knows how incredible it is to heal passed all of it and learn to trust male practitioners again to help her.
