FSA Education February Roundup
Important announcements, links and posts of interest, and recent developments impacting adult survivors of Family Scapegoating Abuse
Welcome to all of our new subscribers, both free and paid. We’re glad you’re here and a part of our Family Scapegoating Abuse (FSA) community.
A Rare Request
My Substack is crawling and inching its way toward another subscriber milestone. Why crawling and inching? Here’s my thoughts on that:
Most FSA survivors are concerned about abusive family members seeing their comments or shares online, whether here on Substack or on Social Media in general. They therefore hesitate to comment on my posts or restack or share my posts and articles, limiting my reach and growth.
Most FSA survivors hesitate to share their painful family experiences or identify as scapegoat abuse survivors for reasons I mention in my last article, The Struggle to Share (linked below), which includes the experience of traumatic invalidation:
My attitude with my Substack is “build it and they will come.’ I’m the leading world expert on FSA (I coined the term Family Scapegoating Abuse via my original Family Systems research years ago), but even so, perhaps I need to promote myself more on Substack but I far prefer supporting and promoting the work of my fellow authors and clinical colleagues here.
Lastly: The term ‘Family Scapegoating Abuse’ or anything to do with the words ‘family’ and ‘abuse’ being used in the same term, phrase, or sentence is not popular with algorithms here on Substack, so my Substack posts and notes do not get promoted here either. This is also true on Amazon, where I am not allowed to run ads on Kindle for my introductory book on FSA, Rejected, Shamed, and Blamed: Help and Hope for Adults in the Family Scapegoat Role. This is also true on YouTube, where I serve as one of their licensed health partners but STILL have to appeal every video to have them monetized, which is why I took a break from publishing there.
Whether you are a free or paid subscriber, please know that your support means the world to me. Your support can also include restacking this post as a note and perhaps including a short blurb about why you find my Substack valuable and are recommending it to others, if you feel moved to do so.
A friendly reminder to free subscribers that my public posts are available to read for free for 14 days before going behind a paywall in my Archive here on Substack.
You can also use the ‘Share’ button below to share my publication on your social media.
Read the Struggle to Share here:
- Rebecca C. Mandeville, LMFT, CCTP
News, Announcements, and Links of Interest
Find more of my free Substack Content in ‘Notes’
The below image is from a ‘note’ I created and posted on Substack this past week. I was touched by the comments it received. The connection between being scapegoated by family members and sexual abuse is under-researched and needs greater social recognition as well as acknowledgment within the Mental Health field. Yet another facet of what I call ‘scapegoat injustice’.
You can access my ‘Notes’ here: https://familyscapegoathealing.substack.com/notes
New Guidelines for Working with Adults with Complex Trauma Histories Released by the American Psychological Association (APA)
AT LAST! Important news for all abuse survivors suffering from symptoms of Complex Trauma (C-PTSD) - and the clinicians who treat them: A new resource is now available from the American Psychological Association (APA) on working with adults with complex trauma histories.
Although the APA is now acknowledging Complex Trauma as a distinct condition, it is NOT included in the current Diagnostic Statistical Manual / DSM used to diagnose here in the U.S. but has been lumped into PTSD without a distinct diagnostic code, as mentioned in my introductory book on Family Scapegoating Abuse, Rejected, Shamed, and Blamed.
My original research on what I ended up naming 'Family Scapegoating Abuse’ (FSA) indicated that most FSA adult survivors suffer from symptoms of Complex Trauma, but only a few survey respondents were aware that they should be assessed for C-PTSD. Most FSA survivors in therapy also reported that their treating clinician did not assess them for Complex Trauma, despite their presenting with C-PTSD-type symptoms.
Let’s hope that with time and greater social awareness this begins to change. This guide from the APA is an important first step in regard to educating and supporting Mental Health professionals, but many of us who are trained and certified in Complex Trauma treatment won’t be satisfied until this potentially debilitating condition is formally recognized in the DSM.
“These professional practice guidelines (PPG) inform understanding of the effects of complex trauma on development and functioning, and provide strategies for treatment and intervention with adult survivors. They were developed for over a decade by a group of over twenty experts in the field including Executive Director of the Foundation Trust, Joseph Spinazzola, Ph.D. and lead by Drs. Christine Courtois and Paul Frewen.”
You can access the PDF version of these new guidelines here: https://www.complextrauma.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/2025_02-APA-Guidelines-for-Working-with-Adults-with-Complex-Trauma-Histories.pdf
Rejected, Shamed, and Blamed Audiobook Publication Date
As shared earlier, Tantor Media bought the U.S. rights to publish the audio version of my book, Rejected, Shamed, and Blamed: Help and Hope for Adults in the Family Scapegoat Role. I had obtained narrator approval and I’m very pleased with who I was able to choose to record my introductory book on FSA.
The audiobook will be released March 18, 2025 on Amazon and other major online book retailers.
Swallowing Traumatic Anger: Family Abuse and the Pressure to Forgive (Article)
In my work with adult survivors of child abuse (including Family Scapegoating Abuse), I know that it is not trauma-informed to ‘push’ clients to forgive their abusive family members. I instead suggest that in addition to - or instead of - going through a forgiveness process, my client consider the concept of ‘Radical Acceptance’ (which I’ve written about and done videos on in the past).
This article on traumatic anger and the pressure to forgive (by Georgina H. Mills) is well worth reading and I’m sharing the link to it here: https://pubhub.lib.msu.edu/read/swallowing-traumatic-anger/section/a4d06ac2-edfd-41ec-b721-c2b327ff4616
You can also read my article on Radical Acceptance in relation to family abuse here: https://familyscapegoathealing.substack.com/p/radical-acceptance-and-its-role-in
New Community Guidelines
Last month I released Community (Moderation) Guidelines for our paid community Chats and Post comments. You can access them below.
Time to Update the Substack Mobile App
I was notified by Substack to update their mobile app. To do this, go to where you first downloaded the app (such as the Google Play Store if you’re an Android user). If says ‘Update’ then click on that. If it says ‘Open’ then you may already have been automatically updated.
For new subscribers interested in learning about using the Mobile App and participating in our group Chats via the app versus a browser, read my User Guide here:
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https://familyscapegoathealing.substack.com/about
Hi Rebecca, after reading about the struggle to share and publish information about FSA( which, by the way has been absolutely life altering for me in the best of ways) I can’t help but think that it’s almost like a version of being scapegoated all over again. You have the unique experience of being able to share information that not only important to you, but so important to countless others, and you have done the hard work that should bring you every success. Instead, terms that inevitably go along with the subject get you knocked down and silenced. It’s a real shame.
Im beyond grateful for you and all of the work you have done to bring FSA from the darkness to the light, and I’ll be forever grateful for the day I stumbled upon your book as that is where my healing journey began. I still have a long way to go, but finally, there has been an easing of the life long unbearable pain that I have always carried, yet never knew why.
Sending so much Love
Rebecca—-I am So happy 😊that your book is soon coming out in audio format. Being mildly dyslexic I feel my most intense learning often comes from listening to the content from my car—which I usually have parked in a beautiful natural setting. I also always have a pen and notebook handy to stop the program and jot down especially meaningful messages.
I have felt resistance by others,(not just family) these past couple of years, for people to engage in conversations about family dysfunction, including therapists, but recently I’m experiencing less resistance, for whatever that’s worth.
Many thanks 🙏 for all you do and stand for ❤️.