Recognizing the Humanity of the Victimizer: Clinical and Social Implications

Abstract

This article explores aspects of healing and recovery of the individual and collective imagination following experiences of dehumanizing trauma. Intergenerational cycles of violence and dehumanization in the lives of both victim and victimizer perpetuate the loss of hope and connection, and generate desperate measures to escape vulnerability. Recognition by the victim of these cycles, as well as the victimizer's human vulnerability, may contribute to the development of coherent narratives and the recovery of open, dialogic meaning systems following trauma. One clinical model by Boszormenyi-Nagy (Boszormenyi-Nagy and Ulrich, 1981; Boszormenyi-Nagy and Spark, 1984) and another by the Yale Psychiatric Institute Family Study are described, each of which emphasizes narrative formation. A case illustration is given, followed by application of these concepts to the wider social context—specifically, in the theory of restorative justice and one of its derivatives, the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. The article concludes with a discussion of Lear's notion of radical hope.