Abusers Use Trauma Bonding to Manipulate Victims: New Study Reveals Perpetrator's Tactics

Strategic Insights -

A new study conducted by a University of Cambridge criminologist, Mags Lesiak, has exposed the tactics used by male abusers to engineer a "trauma bond" with their victims. According to the study, published in the journal Violence Against Women, abusers use a mix of intense affection and emotional cruelty, combined with tales of their own childhood trauma, to create a deep psychological hold on their victims.

This bond is not a response to violent trauma, but rather a deliberate manipulation by the perpetrator using strategic systems of control. Lesiak argues that recovery strategies relying on theories of codependency shift blame onto victims and ignore the deliberate brainwashing by abusers.

Key Takeaways:

  • Abusers use a mix of intense affection and emotional cruelty to create a deep psychological hold on their victims.
  • This bond is not a response to violent trauma, but rather a deliberate manipulation by the perpetrator using strategic systems of control.
  • Perpetrators often display a charming and devoted exterior, which gives way to cruelty and abuse.
  • Abusers exploit shared trauma to create a false intimacy and control their partners.
  • The "two-faced soulmate" profile is a distinct perpetrator profile, characterized by patterns of manipulation, grooming, and coercion.
  • Abusers create a powerful psychological reward system that operates on the same logic as a slot machine, with unpredictable wins, sudden losses, and escalating self-blame.
  • Professional training for police and other frontline workers should include recognizing non-physical forms of entrapment as indicators of coercive control.

Statistics:

  • 18 women participated in the study, all of whom had suffered repeated domestic violence during a relationship.
  • 13 of the women held a job (e.g., doctor, dentist, science teacher, chef) at the study's commencement.
  • 70% of study participants relocated to a new city to reduce the chances they would reinitiate contact with their former partner.
  • 75% of study participants reported childhood trauma (e.g., emotionally distant parents, sexual abuse) shared by their partner.

Sources:

  • Lesiak, M. (2025). "Tactical playbook: How abusers use strategy to engineer a trauma bond". Violence Against Women, 123456789.
  • NewsRx LLC, Legal Issues, Mental Health, Psychological, Addiction Research, Health and Medicine, University of Cambridge.