Adjustment Phases of victims

The adjustment of victims after being stigmatised (i.e., raped, molested, kidnapped, beaten, harassed) to new life and their taking up new roles involve several phases, although there is much intermeshing of these phases. The phases seem to follow a sequence.

Bowl by (see, Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 44, No. 3, 1988: 45-46) has identified four phases of ‘recovery’: shock, protest, despair and a long interval of adaptation.

Following Bowlby and Mukesh Ahuja (1996), we may identify following four phases in female victims adjustment to life after stigmatisation: (i) shock and pain, (ii) removing pain, (iii) avoidance and humiliation, and (iv) adaptation.

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All victims, however, do not experience the same level of shock and pain, the same level of humiliation and avoidance, and the same problems of finding substitute sources of adjustment.