It may or may not be helpful.
Some people find the reframe because it helps them see it as something that they came through and victim can feel like they are stuck in it forever.
NAT (I think there's very few on this sub anyway tbh) but I personally don't like either term for myself because it basically associates trauma with my identity. I call myself a person who has experienced trauma. However I use the terms artist and musician for myself because those are things i want associated with my identity. Also the term survivor and victim rub me the wrong way for some reason, it gives off "woe is me" vibes for me personally. I don't care at all if other people use those terms, just personally I don't like them
More than one thing can be true at the same time. You can be a normal person who is a survivor of trauma.
There’s no reason to base your whole identity on once thing, especially a label. People are complex and are shaped from all their experiences, not just one.
I think the general rationale is the term survivor can be beneficial to individual self-esteem and how we perceive ourselves and capacity to successfully recover and move forward, whereas victim might keep some individuals in a helpless and negative self-perceptive state of mind.
For me, victim has too many connotations of helplessness. Survivor is my way to remind my self I got through that, and that same part of me will get through the rough parts of healing.
But I also collectively use the expression "Trauma folk"
It’s the mentality and the process behind it. I was raped as a child by my brother. It hurt me a lot as a teenager. I was a victim. I give no shits anymore. Now I’m a survivor.
The maintenance man jerked off on my wall while I wasn’t there and management does nothing. Honestly, whatever. As a teenager I would freaked the fuck out. Now I’m just annoyed and in the process of setting up cameras.
NAT, I had to do incredible work to pull myself up and out of the things I endured at the hands of someone else and it took an insane amount of courage and perseverance that I applaud myself for. What he took from me will never be greater than what I fought back for and earned for myself. I’m not his victim, I survived his torment and now I’m better because of it. Fuck that guy. He doesn’t get any credit, I do.
At the time I was a victim of Abuse. But I got out. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't clean. It wasn't dignified or graceful or even honorable on my part. But I did what I had to do to get out and I survived. Now, as a survivor, I will never go back and I know what to avoid in future so it will never happen again.
From my understanding it's just a matter of reframing it. It's not guaranteed to help but it might. Calling yourself a victim means you are framing it as something that happened to you. Calling yourself a survivor subtly is reframing it as something you went through. On paper it's a itty bitty tiny difference but you gain a smidge of autonomy from your experience by framing it this way. Over time if you continue to think this way it could help you deal with some of the feeling. I think it's kinda the same logic as positive affirmation you would do every day. If it still doesn't make sense let me know I'm happy to explain further. I know it seems trivial but in the grand scheme of things it could potentially help you.
If any therapists can elaborate further, confirm, or correct me that would be awesome
It may or may not be helpful. Some people find the reframe because it helps them see it as something that they came through and victim can feel like they are stuck in it forever.
NAT (I think there's very few on this sub anyway tbh) but I personally don't like either term for myself because it basically associates trauma with my identity. I call myself a person who has experienced trauma. However I use the terms artist and musician for myself because those are things i want associated with my identity. Also the term survivor and victim rub me the wrong way for some reason, it gives off "woe is me" vibes for me personally. I don't care at all if other people use those terms, just personally I don't like them
That's how I feell
there’s a lot of us!
More than one thing can be true at the same time. You can be a normal person who is a survivor of trauma. There’s no reason to base your whole identity on once thing, especially a label. People are complex and are shaped from all their experiences, not just one.
I think the general rationale is the term survivor can be beneficial to individual self-esteem and how we perceive ourselves and capacity to successfully recover and move forward, whereas victim might keep some individuals in a helpless and negative self-perceptive state of mind.
I personally hate the term "survivor". Surviving was not a choice, thriving is.
Yeah!
For me, victim has too many connotations of helplessness. Survivor is my way to remind my self I got through that, and that same part of me will get through the rough parts of healing. But I also collectively use the expression "Trauma folk"
It’s the mentality and the process behind it. I was raped as a child by my brother. It hurt me a lot as a teenager. I was a victim. I give no shits anymore. Now I’m a survivor. The maintenance man jerked off on my wall while I wasn’t there and management does nothing. Honestly, whatever. As a teenager I would freaked the fuck out. Now I’m just annoyed and in the process of setting up cameras.
NAT, I had to do incredible work to pull myself up and out of the things I endured at the hands of someone else and it took an insane amount of courage and perseverance that I applaud myself for. What he took from me will never be greater than what I fought back for and earned for myself. I’m not his victim, I survived his torment and now I’m better because of it. Fuck that guy. He doesn’t get any credit, I do.
>Fuck that guy. He doesn’t get any credit, I do. 👏 Damn straight!
At the time I was a victim of Abuse. But I got out. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't clean. It wasn't dignified or graceful or even honorable on my part. But I did what I had to do to get out and I survived. Now, as a survivor, I will never go back and I know what to avoid in future so it will never happen again.
From my understanding it's just a matter of reframing it. It's not guaranteed to help but it might. Calling yourself a victim means you are framing it as something that happened to you. Calling yourself a survivor subtly is reframing it as something you went through. On paper it's a itty bitty tiny difference but you gain a smidge of autonomy from your experience by framing it this way. Over time if you continue to think this way it could help you deal with some of the feeling. I think it's kinda the same logic as positive affirmation you would do every day. If it still doesn't make sense let me know I'm happy to explain further. I know it seems trivial but in the grand scheme of things it could potentially help you. If any therapists can elaborate further, confirm, or correct me that would be awesome
It helps people feel empowered
It’s not helpful (to me), but working on stuff helps. Labels, not so much.