Radical Understanding
Radical acceptance, defined as “complete and total openness to the facts of reality as they are, without…responding with willful ineffectiveness,” is a well-known dialectical-behavioral concept (Linehan 2014, p. 451). It is a difficult but helpful skill that can reduce distress in times of emotional turmoil. However, upon further analysis, people recovering from institutional trauma need less situational acceptance and more situational understanding. Recovering from institutionalization, for example, requires survivors to move past acceptance to action, finding resources outside of one’s IOD in order to transition back to everyday life.
Learned helplessness is a related concept. In being exposed to adverse experiences, people may develop a conditioned defeat. They may view the world as being set against them and inhibit themselves from trying new experiences, feeling as though they’d only be putting themselves in danger. Learned helplessness has been described as ‘advanced radical acceptance’; it is the ultimate acceptance that one’s situation cannot be changed regardless of what they do. This has a strong impact, especially on trauma survivors. Both “LH [learned helplessness] and conditioned defeat paradigms produce behavioral changes that may be associated with the symptomatology of trauma-related depression“ (Hammack et al., 2012).
Bearing this in mind, it’s important to be mindful of how radical acceptance is taught to institutional trauma survivors. Radical acceptance can sometimes reinforce learned helplessness when dealing with the trauma of unignorable and unchangeable institutions. Instead, it may be best to introduce the concept of Radical Understanding.
Radical Understanding focuses on allowing oneself to feel and express emotions that might come up while processing distress. It emphasizes self-compassion rather than ‘letting go.’ Where radical acceptance might teach survivors that they must acknowledge the situation before them regardless of whether it is okay, Radical Understanding places more emphasis on the fact that it is not okay to be abused or mistreated. Doing this empowers survivors by affirming their experiences. In this way, Radical Understanding should be seen as an expanded version of radical acceptance (or even a stepping stone to radical acceptance) where lifting up survivors and affirming their autonomy are placed first, directly combating any associated learned helplessness.
Institution Therapy also acknowledges that many survivors may fear leaving or disobeying their IOD, especially abuse survivors from cults and organized criminal groups. For some, accepting their situation leaves them feeling as though they can never escape, further contributing to their institutionalization. Radical Understanding reframes this by promoting survivors to gain a better understanding of their institution and how it affects their lives, regardless of whether they are fully able to accept it at the moment. Being educated and critically observing emotional or traumatic situations can help survivors realize whether acting in opposition to their institution’s values would put them in danger, changing the way they consider their approach. Over time, this can neutralize the power of the IOD in their worldview, facilitating the process of taking steps away from the institution’s enforced way of thinking.
Example Radical Understanding affirmations include:
- I understand that I was abused by this institution, and that was not okay.
- I understand that I am not in danger now, but I was in danger then, and that hurt me. (This is to be used if the survivor is out of their IOD.)
- There are safe spaces for me in this world, even if this institution is not one of them.
- They taught me that I must do this, but I do not have to live according to their rules.
Radical Understanding skills may include Analyzing the Moment (also known as taking a step back in moments of distress to consider an IOD’s effect in one’s coping reactions), Thinking Critically (or questioning the effect an IOD may have on a survivor’s life), and Educating Yourself (wherein survivors learn more about their IODs and institutional trauma to better equip themselves to handle them).
Resources
Sample resources for Insitution Therapy administers are provided below.
Disclaimer
The Five R’s of Institution Therapy serve as overarching umbrella categories under which different skills and techniques may fall. Example techniques are provided in each principle section, but this paper is not a complete list of all possible treatment methods that fall under Institution Therapy. Any skills taught in trauma therapy will be helpful in Institution Therapy and can be freely applied with the administer’s discretion.