"At the end of September, Malika Brittingham was arrested after falsely reporting an active shooter at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey. She'd sent a text saying that she'd heard five or six shots and was "hiding with her co-workers." After a lockdown and law enforcement response, Brittingham sheepishly admitted she'd made it up so she could "trauma bond" with her coworkers."
"Brittingham had misconstrued the meaning of trauma bonding. The phrase has traditionally referred to a bond that forms between a victim of abuse and the abuser, usually via a cyclical pattern of nasty and nice that keeps victims compliant. The loop might involve betrayal and apology, or punishment and reward, or abuse and affection. This strategy addicts victims to the periods of post-abuse relief. It's also been called Stockholm syndrome."
"Still, Brittingham wasn't wrong. Real bonds can form from traumatic situations. In 2018, Nikolas Cruz carried out a mass shooting in a high school in Parkland, Florida. He killed 17 and injured 18. Twenty surviving students formed an advocacy group for gun control, "Never Again MSD." They staged political protests and went on a bus tour to encourage young people to vote."
The term trauma bonding traditionally denotes an attachment that develops between a victim and an abuser through cyclical patterns of cruelty and kindness that enforce compliance. These cycles can include betrayal followed by apology or punishment followed by reward, producing addiction to relief after abuse. Some people apply the label more broadly to bonds formed among individuals who share traumatic events, as when someone fabricates danger to seek solidarity with coworkers. Collective responses to trauma can generate powerful ties, as seen with Parkland survivors who organized advocacy and protest. Clear terminology should distinguish these different phenomena.
Read at Psychology Today
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