Exposure to Women Abuse: A Betrayal Trauma
by Nayyar Javed 

Exposure to violence directed at others may be as traumatic as experiencing it, which is why it is used as a technique for the interrogation of political prisoners in torture cells. Children who are exposed to their father's violence directed at their mothers are traumatized. However, the nature of this trauma is different from the trauma caused by exposure to acts of violence in other situations. These children feel betrayed because both the perpetrator and the victim of violence are their father and mother who are supposed to provide security and stability. They also function as role models for learning social and emotional skills. The betrayal trauma children of woman abusers are exposed to at different developmental stages may have long-term negative consequences. The betrayal is caused by being hurt by those who are supposed to protect.
In the case of children of racialized immigrants, the betrayal trauma may become more intense because of the racial discrimination they face in schools and other social settings. One of the factors, which may help in mitigating the adverse effect of betrayal trauma, is the availability of a supportive environment outside the family. Children of racialized immigrants face hostility outside their homes. They need stability and support. Children who observe their mother being assaulted are themselves living in dangerous, chaotic and highly dysfunctional families (Jaffe, Wolfe and Wilson, 1990).
Some of these children have similar adjustment problems as those who are physically and sexually abused, those who come from alcoholic families, and families struggling with psychotic disorders. Boys who see their fathers battering their mothers are reported to have high levels of externalizing aggression. They easily engage in fights, destruction of property and many other activities, which can have devastating social implications. On the contrary, girls coming from this kind of family environment tend to internalize aggression, which causes withdrawal, anxiety and depression. Both boys and girls may have problems in school performance. They learn to see violence as the only way of resolving conflict. These children also feel guilty and responsible for the violence of their fathers; they feel responsible for protecting their mothers and siblings from their fathers' aggressive onslaught. When their strategies for protecting their mothers do not work, they feel powerless and angry at their fathers and mothers – fathers for their violence and mothers for their powerlessness.
These children take the experiences of their childhood into the latter stages of their lives, which can perpetuate violence for generations. For example, according to a domestic violence research in the United States , the rate of wife beating was 1000% higher for men who observed violence directed at their mother in their childhood than for men who came from families without violence.
In general, the impact of children's exposure to violence within their home has not received much attention from researchers, mental health practitioners and front-line workers. Their coping strategies are often mis-interpreted as behaviour problems. The experiences of children of racialized immigrants in a racist context have yet to be researched to the extent this issue requires.
The fact that violence against women in the racialized immigrant population is as common as in the mainstream provides reasons for concern. For children, they may be faced with a double whammy as children of abusive men, who also experience racism in school and other social environments.
Trauma is defined as any experience that poses overwhelming physical and/or psychological threats, and cause extreme fear and a sense of powerlessness. Human response to trauma consists of complex changes in brain and body, which may be lost long after a trauma is over. The long-term impact of trauma may vary from temporary loss of sense of trust in life and others, to severe symptoms such as depression, anxiety, phobias and other psychological problems. The long-term symptoms caused by trauma, which disrupts an individual's capacity to function are often described as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Not everybody who is exposed to trauma develops PTSD, but many do. Those who suffer with PTSD have severe psycho-social problems in coping with life and they may even develop physical health problems.
Children exposed to violence/abuse within the family and experience racism in their social context are vulnerable to PTSD. The understanding of this vulnerability and taking it into account in the service delivery is critical in offering help. The absence of the acknowledgement of this vulnerability may lead to misdiagnosing these children as having “Attention Deficit” or being maladjusted problem children. Research shows that racialized populations including children are often misdiagnosed, which is due to inadequate and often harmful interventions. The children of racialized immigrants are confronted with many setbacks because of racism. These set backs multiply when they live in homes considered “dangerous”. There is a strong likelihood that these children are not only exposed to violence against their mother, but also are the target of violence.
As well, mothers who are abused have more difficulty obtaining enough psychological resources but must also face the challenges of mothering. Their abusive partners are often men who have not learned to provide the emotional support that children need for mental health. The attachments and bonds children need for trusting life and others is severely breached by both being exposed to and experiencing violence. Most of these children do not have extended family, which may provide them with supportive people for filling the gap of not having anybody for building healthy relationships.
The Canadian Taskforce on Mental Health issues of Refugees and Immigrants in 1987 had identified the children of racialized immigrants as one of the vulnerable groups in immigrant population. The finding of this task force is reported in its publication entitled After the Door Opens . This is the latest nation-wide research done regarding the to mental health of children in the immigrant and refugee community in Canada , and is recommended reading for everyone working with children exposed to abuse.

Nayyar Javed is a Psychologist in the Saskatoon Adult Community Health Services. She has developed expertise on gender, race, and class intersectionality and is often invited to speak or publish on this and racial and gender equality issues.  She immigrated from Pakistan to Canada in 1969.

References

Jaffe, P.G., Wolfe, D.A. and Wilson, S.K. (1990) Children of Battered Women: Issues in Child Development and Intervention Planning. Newbury Park , CA : Sage Publications

Jeffe, P.G., Deront, J. Hurley and Wolf, David. (1990) “Children's Observations of Violence: Critical Issues in Child Development” in Intervention Plan, Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, Volume 35.

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