Rebecca C. Mandeville's Blog

When I first suggested the idea of writing a blog on Family Scapegoating to the founder of Psych Central , I had one primary goal in mind: To validate the experiences of those suffering from a form of psycho-emotional abuse that is both insidious and subtle, and often goes unrecognized and untreated. With Healthline’s recent purchase of PsychCentral , this blog is now moving…

The Family Scapegoating Abuse Recovery blog will continue! This week I learned that Psych Central has been sold to Healthl...

Individuals intent on releasing the false family narrative that is the ‘scapegoat story’ face unique challenges in regard to their recovery.  For example, if their family is unable to see them as a ‘whole’ person and continues to place them in the ‘family scapegoat’ role, some difficult decisions will need to be made in order to establish and protect their own mental and emotional well-being.

1. Family System Dysfunction and Homeostasis

Members of a dysfunctional family who covertly or overtly ...

Since beginning this ‘Scapegoat Recovery’ blog last year, many readers have written me with questions regarding family scapegoating and the challenges faced when attempting to recover from it’s damaging effects. In today’s post I answer five critical questions about this most insidious form of systemic psycho-emotional abuse.  

Understanding Family Scapegoating Abuse (FSA)

Over the past few months, I’ve had quite a few readers of this blog write to me privately or in comments to the effect of, “...

Although the work of freeing yourself from the painful and damaging role of ‘family scapegoat’ isn’t easy, it really is possible to reclaim the truth of who you are so that you can go on to live a self-empowered life that includes love, respect, serenity, and clarity.

Scapegoating as the Promotion of a False Narrative

One of the most important things that happen when I begin to work with clients who are determined to recover from the mental and emotional anguish caused by scapegoating abuse is h...

As the daily Covid-19 case count soars to new heights here in the United States (even as we are told by our federal government that it is important we all get back to work and send our children back to school), I find myself thinking of Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery” (1948).

In this insidiously morbid story, Jackson skillfully conveys a dystopian reality in which a woman, Tessie, is stoned to death after ‘winning’ the town lottery. The stoning of the woman reflects ancient traditi...

If your primary response to unpleasant, difficult, or traumatizing interactions is the ‘fawn’ response, you likely avoid conflict as much as possible and will deny your own truth in an attempt to make those you feel dependent upon and/or care about comfortable. But in reality, ‘fawning’ and appeasing others serves no one in the end…






The ‘fawn’ response is an instinctual response associated with a need to avoid conflict and trauma via appeasing behaviors. For children, fawning behaviors ...

This week’s guest author is Linda Crockett, an internationally recognized expert on workplace bullying. Linda and I connected over our mutual understanding that dysfunctional workplace dynamics often mirror dysfunctional family system dynamics and family scapegoating abuse. In today’s article, Linda addresses the connection between sibling bullying and workplace / adult bullying.

My name is Linda Crockett. I am a survivor of sibling scapegoating, including bullying and physical threats; intimat...

Complex trauma (C-PTSD) describes exposure to multiple traumatic events and the long-term impact of this exposure. It is therefore not surprising that children who were the target of family scapegoating abuse (FSA) are often suffering from undiagnosed and untreated complex trauma today…

Complex Trauma and the Scapegoated Child

Complex trauma (which is sometimes interchanged with terms such as C-PTSD, complex relational trauma, developmental trauma, and interpersonal trauma) is a relative...

The ‘just-world belief can also be used to blame and shame innocent victims by denying or rationalizing their genuine pain and suffering. It can also result in the scapegoating of individuals, groups, or even an entire class or race…

What is the ‘Just-World’ Hypothesis?

The belief in a ‘just world’ is an early simple belief instilled to us early on in childhood, whereby “good things can happen to good people” and “bad things can happen to bad people”. It can be a useful tool for social conditi...

Betrayal trauma theory (BTT) is defined as a trauma perpetrated by someone with whom the victim is close to and reliant upon for support and survival, and specifically addresses situations in which people or institutions that a person relies upon for protection, resources, and survival violate the trust or well-being of that person (Freyd, 2008). 

Update: Following the publication of the below article, I received a lovely note with additional resources from Brianna Delker, who helped conduct on...