Self-Authoring Self-Therapy for Traumatized Scam Victims
Principal Category: Scam Victim Recovery
Author:
• Tim McGuinness, Ph.D. – Anthropologist, Scientist, Director of the Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc.
Self-authoring may be a transformative tool for scam victims, helping them process trauma, understand the emotional patterns that made them vulnerable, and create a new narrative for their future. By writing about the stress carried from past experiences, victims can gain clarity on how these unresolved emotions contributed to their scam experience, allowing them to break free from self-blame and guilt. This reflective process promotes self-compassion, encourages setting goals for healing, and empowers victims to rebuild trust in themselves. Ultimately, self-authoring helps victims regain control of their emotional well-being and fosters personal growth and resilience.
Professional Note
This article, like most of what the SCARS Institute publishes is intended to help scam victims, their families, and friends, to find answers and fulfill an essential role in psychoeducation. While the work is grounded on science and research, it is not intended to present research but rather general education in most cases. This can also serve as an introduction and overview for psychologists and allied professionals unfamiliar with scam victimization and its effects on victims.
Also, please read our SCARS Institute Statement About Professional Care for Scam Victims – here
Understanding Self-Authoring Self-Help Therapy: Writing About Your Past to Heal from Scam Trauma
Self-authoring is a powerful therapeutic tool that involves writing about your past experiences, including the stress and unresolved emotions you carry, to gain deeper insights into how these events continue to shape your present life.
For scam victims, this method can be especially effective in processing the trauma of deception and manipulation by encouraging them to explore not only the immediate effects of the scam but also the underlying emotional patterns that may have contributed to their vulnerability. By looking beyond the current trauma and examining the burdens carried from the past, scam victims can better understand themselves, their reactions, and the roots of their emotional responses.
What Is Self-Authoring?
The self-authoring process, developed by renowned Canadian psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson and his colleagues, focuses on writing about your life experiences in a structured way. It involves reflecting on key events, both positive and negative, and understanding how these have influenced your beliefs, behaviors, and emotional well-being. This method is divided into several stages, often starting with writing about past experiences moving toward planning for future goals, and shaping a narrative that helps you make sense of your life. The goal is to organize your thoughts, explore unresolved emotions, and create a coherent story of your life that allows for healing and growth.
When applied to trauma, particularly in the context of scam victimization, self-authoring can help individuals unpack the layers of emotional distress tied to the experience. By writing about their past and identifying recurring themes of stress or insecurity, victims can begin to see how long-standing emotional wounds may have made them more susceptible to the manipulation of scammers.
Writing About the Stress You Carry
Many people carry unresolved emotional burdens from their past without fully realizing the extent to which these affect their present lives. For scam victims, writing about the stress they’ve been holding on to from previous experiences can provide essential insight into why the scam was so traumatic. This past stress could stem from unresolved family dynamics, financial struggles, feelings of inadequacy, or prior experiences of betrayal and trust violations. When these emotional issues are not addressed, they can create patterns of thinking and behavior that make a person more vulnerable to further emotional manipulation.
For example, a person who has long struggled with feelings of loneliness or rejection may be particularly susceptible to romance scams, as the scammer offers the validation and affection they have been seeking. By engaging in the self-authoring process and writing about these past experiences, the victim can begin to see how their emotional needs influenced their response to the scam and why it felt so devastating. The act of writing allows them to externalize the pain and stress they’ve been carrying, which not only helps them make sense of the current trauma but also provides clarity about deeper, underlying emotional issues.
Self-Authoring is Different than Journaling
Self-authoring differs from journaling in its structured and goal-oriented approach. While journaling typically involves the spontaneous recording of daily thoughts, feelings, and experiences, self-authoring is a more deliberate process designed to help individuals reflect on specific past events, understand their emotional patterns, and shape their future narrative.
Self-authoring typically follows a guided framework that encourages individuals to explore key life events, identify emotional triggers, and set clear goals for personal growth. It focuses on unpacking deeper, unresolved issues that influence current behavior and decision-making. In contrast, journaling is often less formal, serving as a personal outlet for thoughts and emotions without a defined structure or end goal.
Self-authoring is a therapeutic, structured exercise aimed at personal transformation, whereas journaling is a more open-ended, reflective practice.
How Writing Helps Scam Victims Move Beyond the Trauma
The self-authoring process gives scam victims the space to explore their thoughts and feelings without judgment, which is a crucial step toward healing. Writing about the past enables them to see the scam within a broader context of their life, helping them to move beyond the narrow focus of the immediate trauma. For many victims, the experience of being scammed triggers deep-seated feelings of shame, guilt, and self-blame. These emotions often lead to cycles of rumination, where the victim constantly replays the event in their mind, asking themselves, “How could I have been so foolish?” or “Why didn’t I see the signs?”
Self-authoring encourages victims to take a step back and consider how past experiences may have contributed to their vulnerability. By doing so, they can develop a more compassionate understanding of themselves. This shift in perspective helps reduce the weight of self-blame and allows them to see the scam not as an isolated failure, but as part of a larger emotional journey. For example, if a victim writes about past experiences of betrayal or mistrust, they may realize that their response to the scam was deeply tied to long-standing fears of being abandoned or deceived.
Writing also provides a means of emotional release. Many victims feel isolated and alone in their experience, ashamed to talk about what happened. By putting their thoughts and emotions into words, they can release some of the emotional burden and begin to process their feelings more constructively. This can lead to greater emotional clarity and resilience, making it easier to move forward.
Identifying Patterns and Breaking Free
One of the most powerful aspects of self-authoring is that it allows scam victims to identify patterns in their thinking and behavior that may have contributed to their victimization. Writing about the past helps victims recognize how certain emotional triggers, such as feelings of loneliness, insecurity, or financial stress, made them more susceptible to a scam. By bringing these patterns into conscious awareness, they can begin to change them.
For instance, a victim who writes about past experiences of being taken advantage of in personal relationships may realize that they have a pattern of trusting too easily or seeking approval from others. This insight can empower them to take proactive steps to protect themselves in the future by setting clearer boundaries, questioning situations more critically, or seeking support when they feel emotionally vulnerable.
Moving Forward: Writing a New Narrative
After reflecting on the past and understanding the emotional roots of their trauma, self-authoring encourages scam victims to write a new narrative for their future. This involves setting goals for emotional healing, rebuilding trust in themselves, and creating a plan to move forward with greater resilience. By actively shaping their story, victims can regain a sense of control over their lives, rather than feeling defined by the scam or their past mistakes.
Writing a new narrative helps victims see that they are not powerless in the face of trauma. It allows them to reclaim their agency and view their experience as part of a broader journey of personal growth. Instead of being stuck in the victim mentality, they can redefine themselves as survivors who have learned valuable lessons and are better equipped to navigate future challenges.
What Can Self-Authoring Potential Do For Scam Victims
Self-authoring can be an instrumental tool in a scam victim’s recovery and in shaping their future plans by helping them process trauma, rebuild their self-confidence, and regain control over their lives. It involves reflecting on past experiences, exploring the emotional patterns that contributed to the victim’s vulnerability, and crafting a new narrative for the future. By doing so, scam victims can turn their painful experience into a catalyst for personal growth and resilience.
Processing & Managing Trauma
Self-authoring allows scam victims to fully explore and process the emotional and psychological trauma caused by the scam. Writing about the scam experience in detail helps victims externalize their emotions, providing an outlet for the feelings of shame, guilt, anger, and betrayal that they may carry. Through the act of writing, they can confront difficult memories, understand their reactions, and begin to work through the emotional distress caused by the manipulation and deception. This reflection can also help victims realize that their response to the scam was influenced by a range of factors, not just their own judgment, which helps reduce self-blame and guilt.
Understanding Emotional Vulnerabilities
By diving deep into the past, victims can identify the emotional vulnerabilities that made them more susceptible to scams. For instance, feelings of loneliness, financial insecurity, or unresolved trauma from past relationships may have made the victim more open to the scammer’s manipulation. Self-authoring helps victims identify these patterns, making them aware of how their past influenced their decisions during the scam. This awareness is crucial because it allows them to address these underlying issues and work toward healing them, reducing the likelihood of being manipulated in similar ways in the future.
Rebuilding Self-Trust
One of the most damaging effects of being scammed is the erosion of self-trust. Victims often feel that they can no longer trust their own judgment, which can lead to ongoing feelings of insecurity and doubt. Self-authoring helps victims rebuild this self-trust by enabling them to look at their experience objectively, identify the cognitive biases or emotional responses that led to the mistake, and forgive themselves for those errors. By taking control of their narrative and understanding why they were vulnerable, victims can gradually restore their confidence and begin to trust their own decision-making again.
Setting New Boundaries and Goals
Once victims have reflected on the past and gained insights into their emotional and cognitive patterns, they can start setting new goals for their recovery and future relationships. Self-authoring encourages victims to write about the boundaries they want to establish to protect themselves from future scams or manipulations. This could include setting limits on financial transactions, being more skeptical of online relationships, or learning to identify red flags in suspicious situations. These written plans empower victims by providing a clear path forward, helping them regain control over their financial and emotional well-being.
Creating a Positive Future Narrative
Through self-authoring, scam victims can craft a new narrative for their future—one that focuses on healing, personal growth, and resilience rather than remaining stuck in the identity of being a victim. By actively reshaping their story, victims can redefine themselves as survivors who have learned from their experiences. This process encourages them to set positive goals for their future, whether it’s rebuilding financial security, pursuing personal growth, or deepening meaningful relationships. Writing a future-oriented narrative allows victims to envision a life where they are stronger, wiser, and more empowered, turning the scam from a traumatic experience into a stepping stone toward greater self-awareness and success.
Continual Reflection and Adjustment
Self-authoring is not a one-time process; it involves continual reflection. Victims can revisit their writings over time to assess their progress, refine their goals, and make adjustments as needed. This ongoing process helps them stay aware of their emotional triggers and vulnerabilities, ensuring that they continue to grow and evolve. As they become more confident in their new narrative and goals, they are better equipped to handle challenges and avoid future scams.
Self-Authoring as a Path to Recovery
Self-authoring is a valuable tool for scam victims because it helps them process their trauma, understand the emotional patterns that led to their victimization, and actively shape a new path forward. By engaging in reflective writing, scam victims can reclaim control of their lives, rebuild their self-confidence, and create a future narrative that focuses on growth, resilience, and empowerment. Through self-authoring, victims can turn a painful experience into an opportunity for personal transformation and healing.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Self-Authoring for Scam Victims
Self-authoring is a therapeutic writing technique designed to help individuals explore and process past experiences, identify patterns of behavior, and reshape their narrative for the future. For scam victims, this process can be especially valuable in understanding how past emotional stress and unresolved trauma contributed to their vulnerability and how they can move forward with greater resilience. Below is a detailed step-by-step guide tailored to scam victims to engage in the self-authoring process.
Step 1: Create a Safe and Comfortable Environment
Before you begin self-authoring, it’s important to create a safe, private, and comfortable environment where you can write without distractions. Choose a place where you feel relaxed and can focus entirely on your thoughts. This could be a quiet room, a park, or even a favorite café. Have a journal or a digital writing tool ready to document your thoughts.
Tip: Writing can stir up deep emotions, so it’s helpful to have a way to manage those feelings. You may want to set aside time afterward for self-care, such as going for a walk, meditating, or talking to someone you trust.
Step 2: Start with a Timeline of Events
Begin by creating a timeline of key events related to your experience as a scam victim. This is not just limited to the scam itself but can include significant life events that you feel contributed to your emotional state and decision-making at the time. The timeline can be as broad or as specific as you want, but it should cover key points like:
- When and how the scam started.
- Milestones in your relationship with the scammer or your involvement in the scam.
- Emotional highs and lows during the process (e.g., moments of doubt, happiness, trust, or fear).
- The moment you realized or were told it was a scam.
- How you reacted when you discovered the truth.
This timeline serves as a foundation, helping you recall specific details and feelings, which you will explore more deeply later.
Step 3: Write About the Scam Experience in Detail
NOTE: We recommend that if you are a new victim-survivor wait about 2-4 months before you do this. Give yourself some time to begin learning why this happened to you and why it was not your fault. Let your mind and brain begin to stabilize somewhat so that you can take full advantage of this technique.
With your timeline in place, start writing about the scam in detail. This is not just a factual account of what happened but also an exploration of your emotional journey throughout the experience. Address questions like:
What emotions did I feel during each stage of the scam?
Were you excited, hopeful, or comforted at first? Did you feel doubts that you suppressed? Were there moments when you ignored warning signs because you wanted to believe it was real?
What made me trust the scammer or the situation?
Was it the sense of emotional connection, the promises of financial gain, or the reassurance from the scammer that everything was genuine?
How did I feel once I realized I was being scammed?
Were there feelings of shame, guilt, anger, or betrayal? Did you feel embarrassed to share this with others, or did you try to rationalize the situation?
Be as honest as possible. Don’t worry about how your writing sounds—this is for you. The goal here is to release the emotions tied to the experience and gain clarity about how you responded to the scam emotionally, not just rationally.
Step 4: Reflect on Past Experiences and Emotional Patterns
Next, shift your focus from the specific scam experience to your past experiences. This step is essential in uncovering the emotional patterns or unresolved issues that may have made you more vulnerable to manipulation.
What past experiences might have influenced my vulnerability?
For example, did you experience past betrayals, loneliness, financial struggles, or relationship issues that could have made you more susceptible to the scammer’s promises or emotional manipulation?
What emotional needs was the scammer fulfilling?
Were you seeking validation, love, financial security, or companionship? Did these needs stem from unresolved stress or trauma in your past?
By writing about these deeper layers, you may begin to see how your emotional state and past experiences contributed to the way you engaged with the scam. Recognizing these patterns can help reduce self-blame, as it highlights how your reactions were influenced by more than just the scam itself.
Step 5: Identify Cognitive and Emotional Patterns
After reflecting on both the scam and your past, it’s time to identify the cognitive and emotional patterns that emerged. These patterns often reveal how you approach trust, relationships, and decision-making.
What cognitive biases or distortions affected my judgment?
Did you experience confirmation bias, where you only focused on information that confirmed your belief in the scam? Did you fall into the sunk cost fallacy, continuing the scam because you had already invested so much time or money?
What emotional defenses were at play?
Were you in denial, rationalizing the scammer’s behavior? Did pride stop you from admitting to others that something was wrong? How did fear of being wrong or embarrassment influence your decision to stay engaged?
Identifying these patterns is a key step in the healing process because it brings these unconscious behaviors into conscious awareness. By understanding them, you can begin to break free from the psychological hold they have over you.
Step 6: Reframe the Experience with Self-Compassion
Once you have explored the events, emotions, and patterns of your past and present, it’s time to reframe the experience with a sense of self-compassion. This involves recognizing that you are not defined by the scam or your mistakes.
Acknowledge that being deceived doesn’t make you stupid, foolish, have, or gullible
Scammers are skilled manipulators, and your vulnerability is not a reflection of your intelligence or worth. Remind yourself that many people fall victim to scams, and this experience is an opportunity to grow, not a mark of failure.
Forgive yourself for the mistakes you made
Be kind to yourself for the times you ignored red flags or made choices based on emotion rather than logic. Self-forgiveness is a powerful tool in moving forward from trauma.
See this as a stepping stone for growth
How has this experience changed you? What have you learned about yourself, your needs, and your emotional triggers? How will you use this knowledge to protect yourself in the future?
Writing from a place of self-compassion helps you shift from self-blame to self-understanding, making it easier to heal and move forward.
Step 7: Write About Your Future Goals and Narrative
Now that you’ve reflected on your past and present, it’s time to write about your future. This involves setting goals for your healing and emotional recovery, as well as creating a new narrative for yourself. Rather than seeing yourself as a victim, you can begin to view yourself as someone who has survived and learned from a difficult experience.
What are my goals for emotional healing?
Do you want to rebuild trust in yourself? Strengthen your ability to set boundaries? Work on identifying red flags more clearly in the future?
How do I want to redefine my self-image?
What positive qualities do you want to focus on moving forward? How will you view your experience as part of your growth rather than a setback?
What steps will I take to protect myself emotionally and financially?
Based on what you’ve learned, how will you approach future relationships or financial decisions differently? Write down specific actions you can take to guard against future scams.
By writing about your future, you regain a sense of control and agency over your life. You’re no longer stuck in the past or defined by the scam—you are shaping a new path forward.
Step 8: Review and Reflect Regularly
Self-authoring is not a one-time activity. It’s important to review your writing periodically and continue reflecting on your emotional growth. This will help you track your progress, revisit any unresolved feelings, and make adjustments to your goals as needed.
- Re-read your reflections to see how your thoughts and feelings have evolved.
- Add new insights as you continue to heal and grow from the experience.
- Celebrate small victories along the way, whether it’s recognizing red flags in a future situation or learning to trust yourself again.
Step 9: Review with Your Therapist
As with any self-help therapy process, we recommend that you review your work with your therapist. This can be important for several reasons:
- To help your therapist gain insights in what you see inside yourself
- To help your therapist see your progress
- To determine if there may be better tools available for you
Going Beyond The Scam
Using Self-Authoring Beyond the Scam to Understand a Victim-Survivor’s Whole Life
Self-authoring is a powerful tool that can extend far beyond the immediate trauma of a scam. For scam victim-survivors, the experience of being deceived is often just one chapter in a much larger life story. By using self-authoring to explore not only the scam but also their entire life, victim-survivors can gain a more holistic understanding of the emotional patterns, cognitive biases, and past experiences that shaped their reactions and vulnerabilities. This process offers a pathway to deeper self-awareness, healing, and long-term personal growth.
Looking Beyond the Scam: A Holistic Life Perspective
While the immediate aftermath of a scam can be overwhelming, self-authoring allows victim-survivors to place the scam in the broader context of their lives. Scams don’t happen in a vacuum; they often exploit pre-existing emotional needs, past traumas, and unresolved conflicts. By looking beyond the scam, victim-survivors can examine their entire life journey, identifying how previous experiences may have contributed to their vulnerability.
For example, a victim-survivor who has struggled with feelings of abandonment or betrayal in childhood may recognize that these unresolved emotions made them more susceptible to the emotional manipulation of a romance scam. Similarly, someone with a history of financial insecurity may realize that their fear of missing out on financial stability made them vulnerable to an investment scam. By connecting these dots, victim-survivors can understand that the scam was not just an isolated incident but part of a larger pattern of emotional responses shaped by their life experiences.
Exploring Core Life Events and Their Impact
Self-authoring encourages individuals to explore key life events that have influenced their beliefs, behaviors, and emotional well-being. Victim-survivors can use this process to reflect on both positive and negative experiences from their past, examining how these events shaped their worldview and decision-making.
Key areas to explore might include:
- Family dynamics: How relationships with parents, siblings, or other family members influenced their sense of self-worth and trust in others.
- Major life transitions: Significant life changes, such as moving to a new city, starting a new career, or ending a relationship, and how these transitions impacted their emotional state.
- Previous traumas or betrayals: Other instances where they may have been deceived, manipulated, or hurt, and how these past experiences left emotional imprints that affected their response to the scam.
By understanding how these past events influenced their present, victim-survivors can start to see patterns of behavior and emotional responses that contributed to their vulnerability. This process helps reduce self-blame and empowers them to address the deeper emotional wounds that extend beyond the scam itself.
Recognizing and Rewriting Emotional Patterns
One of the key benefits of self-authoring is the ability to identify and rewrite harmful emotional patterns. Victim-survivors may discover that certain beliefs or emotional triggers, which originated long before the scam, played a significant role in their response to the scam. For example, someone who has always felt a need to please others may recognize that this pattern led them to ignore red flags and continue engaging with the scammer.
Once these patterns are identified, the self-authoring process encourages victim-survivors to actively work on changing them. By rewriting their emotional narrative, they can shift from being passive recipients of these patterns to empowered individuals who consciously choose new ways of thinking and behaving.
Setting Goals for Future Growth
The ultimate aim of self-authoring is not just to understand the past but to create a new narrative for the future. After reflecting on the key events and emotional patterns in their life, victim-survivors can use self-authoring to set meaningful goals for their recovery and future growth.
These goals might include:
- Rebuilding self-trust: Learning to trust their own judgment and instincts again after the betrayal of the scam.
- Strengthening relationships: Establishing healthier boundaries in relationships and cultivating trust with people who genuinely care for them.
- Pursuing personal growth: Focusing on personal development, such as learning new skills, improving financial literacy, or working through past traumas with a therapist.
Through this process, victim-survivors can begin to see the scam not just as a devastating event, but as a catalyst for personal transformation. By actively shaping their future narrative, they regain control over their lives and take steps toward healing and empowerment.
Creating a Coherent Life Story
Self-authoring allows victim-survivors to weave together the various chapters of their life into a coherent story. Rather than viewing the scam as an isolated failure, they can see it as part of a larger life journey that includes challenges, growth, and resilience. By making sense of their entire life story, victim-survivors can move from feeling trapped by their past to embracing it as a source of wisdom and strength.
SCARS Institute Recommendation
SCARS Institute recommends the Self-Authoring course provided by Dr. Jordan Peterson:
The Self Authoring Suite provides access to all four of the Self Authoring exercises: the Present Authoring – Faults, Present Authoring – Virtues, the Future Authoring, and the Past Authoring.
The course (as of the time this was published) is $29 – sign up at selfauthoring.com
Conclusion
The Healing Power of Self-Authoring
For scam victims, the self-authoring process offers a valuable way to process trauma and gain deeper insight into the emotional patterns that have shaped their lives. By writing about the stress they carry from their past, victims can uncover the roots of their vulnerabilities, allowing them to move beyond the immediate pain of the scam and work through the deeper emotional wounds that may have contributed to their experience. Self-authoring empowers victims to take control of their healing process, breaking free from cycles of guilt, shame, and self-blame, and ultimately crafting a new narrative that leads to emotional resilience and personal growth.
The Power of Self-Authoring for Scam Victims
Self-authoring is a transformative tool that allows scam victims to process their trauma, explore the emotional patterns that contributed to their vulnerability, and create a new narrative for their future. By writing about the stress carried from the past, victims can gain clarity, reduce self-blame, and break free from the emotional grip of the scam. Through self-compassion, reflection, and goal-setting, scam victims can rebuild trust in themselves and move forward with greater emotional resilience and self-awareness.
Beyond the Scam
Using self-authoring beyond the scam enables victim-survivors to gain a deeper understanding of their entire life, not just the trauma of the scam. This holistic approach allows them to identify emotional patterns, address past traumas, and set goals for a brighter future. By reclaiming their narrative, victim-survivors can turn their experience of victimization into an opportunity for profound personal growth.
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Important Information for New Scam Victims
Please visit www.ScamVictimsSupport.org – a SCARS Website for New Scam Victims Enroll in SCARS Scam Survivor’s School for FREE – visit www.SCARSeducation.org to register – FREE for scam victims/survivors If you are looking for local trauma counselors please visit counseling.AgainstScams.org or join SCARS for our counseling/therapy benefit: membership.AgainstScams.org If you need to speak with someone now, you can dial 988 in the U.S. or Canada, or find phone numbers for crisis hotlines all around the world here: www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines
A Question of Trust
At the SCARS Institute, we invite you to do your own research on the topics we speak about and publish, Our team investigates the subject being discussed, especially when it comes to understanding the scam victims-survivors experience. You can do Google searches but in many cases, you will have to wade through scientific papers and studies. However, remember that biases and perspectives matter and influence the outcome. Regardless, we encourage you to explore these topics as thoroughly as you can for your own awareness.
Statement About Victim Blaming
Some of our articles discuss various aspects of victims. This is both about better understanding victims (the science of victimology) and their behaviors and psychology. This helps us to educate victims/survivors about why these crimes happened and to not blame themselves, better develop recovery programs, and to help victims avoid scams in the future. At times this may sound like blaming the victim, but it does not blame scam victims, we are simply explaining the hows and whys of the experience victims have.
These articles, about the Psychology of Scams or Victim Psychology – meaning that all humans have psychological or cognitive characteristics in common that can either be exploited or work against us – help us all to understand the unique challenges victims face before, during, and after scams, fraud, or cybercrimes. These sometimes talk about some of the vulnerabilities the scammers exploit. Victims rarely have control of them or are even aware of them, until something like a scam happens and then they can learn how their mind works and how to overcome these mechanisms.
Articles like these help victims and others understand these processes and how to help prevent them from being exploited again or to help them recover more easily by understanding their post-scam behaviors. Learn more about the Psychology of Scams at www.ScamPsychology.org
SCARS Resources:
-
- For New Victims of Relationship Scams www.ScamVictimsSupport.org
- Enroll in SCARS Scam Survivor’s School for FREE – visit www.SCARSeducation.org to register – FREE for scam victims/survivors
- Sign up for SCARS professional Support & Recovery Groups, visit support.AgainstScams.org
- Find competent Trauma Counselors or Therapists, visit counseling.AgainstScams.org
- Become a SCARS Member and get free counseling benefits, visit membership.AgainstScams.org
- Report each and every crime, learn how to at reporting.AgainstScams.org
- Learn More about Scams & Scammers at RomanceScamsNOW.com and ScamsNOW.com
- Scammer Photos on ScammerPhotos.com [Not Recommended for Recent Scam Victims]
- SCARS Videos youtube.AgainstScams.org
- Self-Help Books for Scam Victims are at shop.AgainstScams.org
Psychology Disclaimer:
All articles about psychology, neurology, and the human brain on this website are for information & education only
The information provided in these articles is intended for educational and self-help purposes only and should not be construed as a substitute for professional therapy or counseling.
While any self-help techniques outlined herein may be beneficial for scam victims seeking to recover from their experience and move towards recovery, it is important to consult with a qualified mental health professional before initiating any course of action. Each individual’s experience and needs are unique, and what works for one person may not be suitable for another.
Additionally, any approach may not be appropriate for individuals with certain pre-existing mental health conditions or trauma histories. It is advisable to seek guidance from a licensed therapist or counselor who can provide personalized support, guidance, and treatment tailored to your specific needs.
If you are experiencing significant distress or emotional difficulties related to a scam or other traumatic event, please consult your doctor or mental health provider for appropriate care and support.
Also, please read our SCARS Institute Statement About Professional Care for Scam Victims – here
If you are in crisis, feeling desperate, or in despair please call 988 or your local crisis hotline.
A Note About Labeling!
We often use the term ‘scam victim’ in our articles, but this is a convenience to help those searching for information in search engines like Google. It is just a convenience and has no deeper meaning. If you have come through such an experience, YOU are a Survivor! It was not your fault. You are not alone! Axios!
Statement About Victim Blaming
Some of our articles discuss various aspects of victims. This is both about better understanding victims (the science of victimology) and their behaviors and psychology. This helps us to educate victims/survivors about why these crimes happened and to not blame themselves, better develop recovery programs, and to help victims avoid scams in the future. At times this may sound like blaming the victim, but it does not blame scam victims, we are simply explaining the hows and whys of the experience victims have.
These articles, about the Psychology of Scams or Victim Psychology – meaning that all humans have psychological or cognitive characteristics in common that can either be exploited or work against us – help us all to understand the unique challenges victims face before, during, and after scams, fraud, or cybercrimes. These sometimes talk about some of the vulnerabilities the scammers exploit. Victims rarely have control of them or are even aware of them, until something like a scam happens and then they can learn how their mind works and how to overcome these mechanisms.
Articles like these help victims and others understand these processes and how to help prevent them from being exploited again or to help them recover more easily by understanding their post-scam behaviors. Learn more about the Psychology of Scams at www.ScamPsychology.org
Psychology Disclaimer:
All articles about psychology, neurology, and the human brain on this website are for information & education only
The information provided in these articles is intended for educational and self-help purposes only and should not be construed as a substitute for professional therapy or counseling.
While any self-help techniques outlined herein may be beneficial for scam victims seeking to recover from their experience and move towards recovery, it is important to consult with a qualified mental health professional before initiating any course of action. Each individual’s experience and needs are unique, and what works for one person may not be suitable for another.
Additionally, any approach may not be appropriate for individuals with certain pre-existing mental health conditions or trauma histories. It is advisable to seek guidance from a licensed therapist or counselor who can provide personalized support, guidance, and treatment tailored to your specific needs.
If you are experiencing significant distress or emotional difficulties related to a scam or other traumatic event, please consult your doctor or mental health provider for appropriate care and support.
Also, please read our SCARS Institute Statement About Professional Care for Scam Victims – here
If you are in crisis, feeling desperate, or in despair please call 988 or your local crisis hotline.
SCARS LINKS: AgainstScams.org RomanceScamsNOW.com ContraEstafas.org ScammerPhotos.com Anyscam.com ScamsNOW.com
reporting.AgainstScams.org support.AgainstScams.org membership.AgainstScams.org donate.AgainstScams.org shop.AgainstScams.org
youtube.AgainstScams.org linkedin.AgainstScams.org facebook.AgainstScams.org
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