Trauma researchers have observed that when a person's experience is repeatedly denied by trusted authorities, it can produce profound self-dou
Trauma researchers have observed that when a person’s experience is repeatedly denied by trusted authorities, it can produce profound self-doubt, especially if the person depends on that institution for care, education, employment, justice, or belonging.
Dr. Jennifer Freyd’s betrayal trauma theory says betrayal trauma can occur when people or institutions a person depends on for survival or well-being violate that trust.
Freyd’s work on institutional betrayal extends that idea to schools, workplaces, churches, hospitals, universities, and other systems that fail to prevent harm or fail to respond supportively after harm.
A 2024 scoping review in PubMed summarizes institutional betrayal as institutional failure to prevent or appropriately respond to interpersonal trauma, and notes the growing research on its individual costs.
SAMHSA defines trauma as an event, series of events, or circumstances experienced as harmful or life-threatening with lasting adverse effects on mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being. That supports the idea that ongoing institutional denial can become part of the harm, not just “bad communication.”
One reason moving the goalposts contributes to this is that it creates an unwinnable situation. You keep trying to satisfy the latest requirement, believing that this time your concern will finally be addressed. But every time you meet the new expectation, another one appears. Over time, you may begin to wonder whether the problem is your competence rather than the institution’s unwillingness to engage the original issue.
The objective is not merely to defeat your argument. It is to undermine your confidence in your own ability to perceive what happened.
With institutions, this can be especially powerful because the institution has credentials, titles, committees, experts, official statements, policies, and public legitimacy. A single person naturally wonders whether they are mistaken when faced with so much authority.
When trusted institutions repeatedly deny, minimize, or reframe a person’s lived experience, the harm is not only procedural. It can become psychological