-
Scapegoat Abuse Support and Resources: For Adult Survivors of FSA
•
Systemic Scapegoat Abuse support, community, and resources for adults in the family scapegoat role – From Family Scapegoating Abuse (FSA) expert Rebecca C. Mandeville, LMFT, CCTP, author of the best selling scapegoat book, ‘Rejected, Shamed, and Blamed: Help and Hope for Adults in the Family Scapegoat Role’.
Family Scapegoating Abuse (FSA) Education
Shining a Light on Scapegoat Abuse in Families
Rebecca C. Mandeville, LMFT, CCTP
Share this Website With Others
Rebecca C. Mandeville is a licensed clinician and world-renowned expert on the ‘invisible’ systemic phenomenon she named Family Scapegoating Abuse (FSA). Her pioneering research on systemically-driven scapegoat abuse in families revealed that FSA (which is typically intergenerational in scope) can lead to a range of issues, including Complex PTSD, Betrayal Trauma, Impostor Syndrome, and Toxic Shame.
Rebecca’s best-selling self-help book, Rejected, Shamed, and Blamed: Help and Hope for Adults in the Family Scapegoat Role, provides detailed information on her original qualitative research findings and a pathway to recovery for both FSA survivors and clinicians.
A summary of Rebecca’s qualitative and published, peer-reviewed quantitative research can be found near the bottom of this website. View Rebecca’s latest published, peer-reviewed quantitative research on FSA: https://oapub.org/hlt/index.php/EJPHS/article/view/202/202
Family Scapegoating Abuse (FSA) Education™
Understand what you’ve been trying to recover from…
Welcome to my website.
The information provided below is designed to help you learn more about the insidious systemic phenomenon I named Family Scapegoating Abuse (FSA) as a result of my clinical research. I don’t just research and write about being scapegoated by family – I’ve lived it. I therefore know first-hand how traumatizing this form of systemic abuse can be. But healing from FSA and its damaging effects IS possible!
SCROLL DOWN TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MY OFFERINGS AND TO TAKE THE FSA SELF-TEST
ATTENTION – PERMISSIONS REQUIRED: My original FSA-related terms and nomenclature are a direct result of my research and are copyrighted. All of my FSA content on this website (and elsewhere) is also copyrighted. It is therefore critical that proper attribution, references, or citations be provided to your audience when using the term ‘Family Scapegoating Abuse (FSA)’ or referencing my research and/or using material from my articles, posts, videos, book, etc. Email me to request permission to use my FSA content in your original work.
Begin Your Healing Today
My FSA Offerings
Private Community | 1:1 online Consultation | My Book on FSA
Our Community
Subscribe to my Substack to receive my public articles on FSA. Upgrade your subscription to join our private community.
Consultation Service
Feeling stuck in your FSA recovery? You may benefit from a Single-Session Consultation to discuss your family situation.
Intro’ to FSA
My bestselling self-help book, Rejected, Shamed, and Blamed, will help you understand what happened to you in your family.
FSA Self-Test
It is a myth that scapegoating in families is always overt and obvious. While scapegoating at times includes ‘family mobbing’ and ‘gang bullying’, it more often is systemic, insidious and subtle. To make matters even more challenging, children in families that scapegoat are often conditioned to tolerate this form of ‘invisible’ (psycho-emotional) abuse, making this an extremely difficult form of abuse for adult survivors to recognize and recover from.
How It Started…
“I never could have imagined that when I published my introductory book on Family Scapegoating Abuse that it would resonate with tens of thousands of people around the world. Over the years, I’ve received countless emails and messages thanking me for providing a means of discussing this form of insidious systemic abuse via the unique terms and nomenclature I created during the course of my original FSA research. I hope that you also feel validated and seen via this first book on FSA.”
Rebecca C. Mandeville, LMFT, CCTP
Haven’t yet read Rejected, Shamed, and Blamed? This Universal Book Link (UBL) will lead you to an online store where you can purchase it securely. Only Amazon carries the paperback and hard cover versions. Note: Tantor Media distributes the audio version through Amazon and other online shops: https://books2read.com/intro2fsa
JOIN OUR COMMUNITY
Healing the Scapegoat Wound on Substack
Subscribing to my Substack is free. You’ll receive an online FSA Education Guide in your ‘Welcome’ email when you subscribe, which provides more FSA recovery resources. My latest articles will be delivered to your inbox.
Upgrade your subscription to access our private, paywall-protected community spaces.
Summary of Research- Rebecca C. Mandeville, LMFT
History of Qualitative and Quantitative Research on Family Scapegoating Abuse (FSA)
The term Family Scapegoating Abuse (FSA) was coined by psychotherapist and clinical researcher Rebecca C. Mandeville. Mandeville’s work is foundational to the field, and she has collaborated with other researchers to study the phenomenon.
Key researchers and their contributions
Rebecca C. Mandeville
As the central figure in FSA research, Mandeville’s work includes:
- Creating and defining the term FSA: This has provided a crucial framework for understanding the systemic psycho-emotional abuse that occurs when a dysfunctional family unfairly targets one member with blame and criticism.
- Qualitative research: Through her clinical practice and studies, she identified that FSA often leads to Complex Trauma (C-PTSD), Betrayal Trauma, Complicated Grief; Anxiety Disorders; Depressive Disorders; Impostor Syndrome; and Toxic Shame.
- Quantitative research: In 2024, she co-authored the first peer-reviewed quantitative study on FSA, with another study planned for 2025.
- Authoring books: Mandeville wrote Rejected, Shamed, and Blamed: Help and Hope for Adults in the Family Scapegoat Role, which details her findings and provides resources for survivors.
- A Unique Nomenclature: Other terms coined by Mandeville as a result of her original FSA research that enhance survivor and clinician discussions include ‘family scapegoat trauma’; ‘scapegoat narrative’; ‘righteous rage’; and ‘scapegoat grief’.
Key findings from the research of Rebecca C. Mandeville
- Complex trauma: Research suggests many FSA survivors experience complex trauma, which can lead to symptoms like a feeling of the world being an unsafe place, emotional dysregulation, and difficulty in relationships.
- Systemic dynamics: The research reveals that scapegoating is a systemic issue often fueled by intergenerational trauma, projection, and the splitting of family roles, where one child is designated as the “scapegoat”.
- Clinical consequences: Survivors often report a long history of seeking treatment for various diagnoses like depression, anxiety, or personality disorders without the root cause of the scapegoating being identified.
- Impact on relationships: FSA can lead to a distorted relationship with oneself and others, self-doubt, difficulty expressing emotions, and a tendency to engage in “fawning” or people-pleasing behaviors due to the betrayal trauma and toxic shame experienced within their family-of-origin.
Dr. Kartheek R. Balapala
Co-authored quantitative studies: As a research fellow and MD, Dr. Balapala co-authored the first peer-reviewed quantitative study on FSA with clinician and Family Systems researcher Rebecca C. Mandeville in 2024. This study was published in the European Journal of Public Health Studies. Read the study at https://oapub.org/hlt/index.php/EJPHS/article/view/202/202
Upcoming research: Dr. Balapala also collaborated on a second quantitative study with Family Systems and Scapegoat Abuse expert Rebecca C. Mandeville, which focused on how Family Scapegoating Abuse (FSA) affects women with Postpartum depression (PPD). This study is now complete and is expected to be published in peer-reviewed health and medical journals in both Europe and Asia in late 2025.
Transcend the Damaging Scapegoat Narrative
Start your FSA healing journey today
It is never too late to begin recovering from Family Scapegoating Abuse. Reclaim your story – reclaim your life!
Rebecca C. Mandeville
When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.