UO psychologist honored for her work on betrayal trauma

UO psychologist Jennifer Freyd, who pioneered the study of betrayal trauma, was honored April 2 in San Francisco with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation.

"Professor Freyd has been, and continues to be, an enormous contributor to the trauma and dissociation field," noted the citation for the 2016 award. "She introduced the model of betrayal trauma to the literature, has supervised large numbers of doctoral research projects, is highly involved in researching campus sexual violence and has been editor of the Journal of Trauma and Dissociation since 2002, a role that she has filled with grace and distinction."

"Your award is very richly deserved," association president Warwick Middleton told Freyd. Middleton, who is director of the Trauma and Dissociation Unit of Belmont Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, introduced Freyd and presented the award during the association's 33rd annual conference.

The organization is an international nonprofit society that promotes research and training in the identification and treatment of dissociative disorders and their relationship to developmental, relational and other traumas. It also provides professional and public education around the world.

Freyd, a professor in the Department of Psychology, won the association's Distinguished Achievement Award in 2011. Later this month, Freyd goes to Hawaii to give a lecture on institutional betrayal and betrayal blindness at the annual First Responders Summit of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickman, Hawaii, where she also is scheduled to brief senior military leaders on her research.