From now ’til June 15th, Truth in Romance Day, read each crucial step to help romance scam victims reclaim their self-esteem and dignity. Today, we’ll cover the letter “T”.

The entire DUST-OFF Plan For Recovery is revealed in  Carnal Abuse by Deceit, How a Predator’s Lies Became Rape. 

Happy healing and happy Truth in Romance Day to all! 

Here’s Step 4……

Trauma Check

Betrayal is shocking. In fact, its so shocking it could cause the toxic glue known as a Betrayal Bond. A Betrayal Bond can keep you stuck in the relationship even though you’ve suffered unspeakable harm! According to Patrick J. Carnes, PhD, in his book, The Betrayal Bond, Breaking Free of Exploitive Relationships, betrayal is a form of abandonment, and abandonment causes addiction.

The pain and the hopelessness of being unable to end ongoing, unrelenting torment and the memory of defilement can also drive rape victims to suicide. It’s important for all rape victims, including rape by fraud victims and emotional rape victims, to know that they can be affected by Post Traumatic Rape Syndrome (PTRS ) and Post Truamatic Stress Disorcer (PTSD). Complex PTSD results from prolonged exposure to emotional abuse and coercive control. If you’ve experienced betrayal or abuse in a relationship, locate a therapist who specializes in these conditions.

There are effective therapies for treating both PTRS and PTSD. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, EMDR, has been proven especially useful. Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), Tapping, is another effective treatment. Look for an experienced specialist.

In order to grasp the true nature of what took place and begin to let go of it, write down your story. Turning it into a third person tale with fictional names may enable you to better distance yourself from the entanglement. By committing the story to paper, you will unburden yourself of having to retain negative energy as emotional armor. Reading and editing your story will help you make sense of what happened and enable you to remain in reality in order to move forward.

The entire Dust-Off! plan for recovery is included in Carnal Abuse by Deceit. Click the title to purchase your copy.