Season 1 Episode 3: Language and Professional Terms That Cover Up Realities of Abuse

About This Episode

In this episode, Ruth and David take a look at commonly used professional and mental health terms that hide perpetrator responsibility for patterns of abuse. They discuss how this impacts victims moving through systems that are not grounded in a practice of pivoting to focus on the perpetrator's patterns of behavior. 

David and Ruth also discuss viewing the effects of abuse only as a pathology or a deficit in victims and how this does not honor the full reality of how bodies respond to abuse and harm and how this leads to victim-blaming. They examine mental health and psychological diagnoses that are commonly used by reporting agencies with the intent to help the victim heal but are often used poorly by systems to the detriment of safety, nurturance, and healing. Ruth shares her personal experience in navigating mental health systems for her own healing as well how words can be used to hide the realities of abuse in personal relationship.