What is so perplexing is the evolution of the thought processes of victims who experience unimaginable trauma at the hands of an abuser. After they have escaped, the victims start questioning themselves and their role in the abuse. Even children somehow may come to believe they brought the abuse upon themselves.

In psycholoy, the Stockholm syndrome is a term used to describe a paradoxical psychological phenomenon wherein hostages express adulation and have positive feelings towards their captors that appear irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims.

Does something similar occur to children subjected to heinous abuse? This ability to hold conflicting ideas about the same thing is known in psychology as cognitive polyphasia. Cognitive polyphasia thus refers to a state in which different kinds of knowledge, possessing different rationalities live side by side in the same individual or collective.

Victims may both hate their abusers while at the same time view them as sympathetic figures. I truly believe the assistance of professional help is critical to making sense of what happened and relieving the victims of any guilt they may feel.