Are abuse survivors better at spotting evil in a person?

Question

What makes us be alert to potential bad people?This is a serious question so NO silly answers please!!

Answer 1

Yes I sometimes meet people and don't like them straight away sometimes before they even speak, if this happens I am usually proved right, and they do some horrid thing, The last time I was proved right was a man my husband works with, he has assaulted about 4 people a work, and the boss whom I didn't like either won't do anything about him, she seems to think he's wonderful. The last person he assaulted got a solicitor, and now he's been fired, on some trumped up excuse, so I hope he takes this further as well.

Answer 2

Based on the research that indicates that people who get into abusive relationships tend to cycle in and out of them repetitively, no, I would not say that an abuse survivor is better at spotting evil in a person. I certainly know it hasn't helped me. It is simply a period of my life that I am glad is over. Better a survivor that the alternative.

Answer 3

I am a survivor of abuse and I really cannot say that I spot evil any better than the next person, I can say that I am more cautious than maybe, an average person, I know what people are capable of.

Answer 4

i think it depends on how evolved the abuse survivor is. some abuse survivors just fall into the same patterns again and end up in an abusive relationship with someone else.

other abuse survivors are so traumatised by their experiences, they find it impossible to trust anyone enough to develop a meaningfully intimate relationship with them.

Good news is that other abuse survivors are indeed, as your question asks, able to spot similar abusive traits in other people. this makes them as a result a better judge of character and therefore better at protecting themselves.

i guess it is down to the survivors ability to balance a situation and assess a person objectively and analytically rather than just out of subjective fear.

if you are asking for yourself (or a friend), good luck with your (or their) future relationships. an abuse survivor deserves the best future that this world has to offer. there are many examples of abuse survivors going on to lead very successful lives (just one example is gary linekar who was bullied at school)

Answer 5

I would imagine that survivors of abuse do not spot evil in a person.Their abuser is somebody who they have known and trusted all of their lives.Statistically the abuser is often a family member or a close friend of the family

Answer 6

No... They seem to be attracted to it (80% of the time). Co-dependency is so addictive that a young woman that has been abused as a child would fall prey to exactly the same type of personality that has abused her later in her life. Or even with people that left a first marriage or abusive relationship... (This is not the case with ALL people though)

Answer 7

I'm aware of potentially bad people because I see the media reports and I'm petrified of my children getting hurt.I see potential evil in everyone until I know them thoroughly and trust them with my kids.
My mum was also the same with us and her parents were a little over protective too so I don't think that you have to have been abused etc to be alert , your upbringing has a huge part in it in this way too.

Answer 8

I would guess not. Most (if not all) would find it hard to integrate with the rest of society in a meaningful way. As an outsider you are subject to considerably greater amount of life's injustices, and will, undoubtedly develop finer instinct for anything ranging from the objectionable to the positively cruel. The vast majority will never face true evil (which has the ability to generally conceal its nature) so will not see it coming.

Answer 9

Unfortunately there are many cases where abused people become abusers, In most cases though, I suppose it makes the abused sensitive to behaviours that remind them of thier own experience, this could be a good thing if it prevents it happening, or a bad thing if they become over sensitive and see it in everyday actions.

Answer 10

i am now 32 and when it happened i was 15, i think i am no better at finding the people. I do know however i am a lot more vigilant of anybody. my partner is the same. we are so distrustful that we have even asked each other the question that if we had kids we would watch each other. not pleasent, i do wish everyone never go through this ever.