So far I have covered the first four of the #5Doubles in the #PsychoSocialQuicksand Model of #Coercive Control, #DoubleStandards, #DoubleBinds, #DoubleThink and #DoubleSpeak. These four doubles, along with DARVO, improve ease of detection of coercive control tactics and strategies as well as help identify coercive controllers. The 5th Double of the PSQM™ is #DoubleVision. Double Vision is a sign that a person may be a victim/survivor of coercive control. While the other Ds in the PSQM™ reference the perpetrator, #DoubleVision is the catch-all for the signs of trauma a target/victim/survivor may display.
Webster defines Double Vision as a disorder of vision in which two images of a single object are seen. Whereas #DoubleVision usually refers to two identical images, however, in the #PsychoSocialQuicksandModel, Double Vision refers to any and all trauma responses caused by coercive control, including the tendency to see two opposites images of the coercive controller.
The easiest way to think about and remember Double Vision is to reference the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Coercive controllers often present with opposite personalities in private than in public. And, as we've seen in previous blogs, coercive controllers are oddly dichotomous.. demonstrating signs of Double Speak, Double Think, Double Standards and Double Binds. Coercive controllers with dark triad or dark tetrad traits are especially good at masking their true personalities in public, while they terrorize those closest to them where no one else can see what's happening.
Living with someone whose true personality is often being masked by manipulative kindness and other forms of deception, causes Double Vision for the targeted victim. Double Speak, Double Think, Double Standards and Double Binds wreak havoc on the victim/survivor and traumatize them into a state of Double Vision.
When a "relationship" with a coercive controller first begins, the target usually has no idea that the person they are with is not who they appear to be. Early on, most targets are enthralled by the coercive controller's love bombing (manipulative kindness) and believe the coercive controller to be a kind, loving, generous, caring and helpful person. But these traits are not genuine for the coercive controller. Their words and deeds during this phase are generated out of a desire to entrap the target by making them believe that they are loved and cared for, perhaps more than they have been in their entire life.
The target develops beliefs about the perpetrator in response to the false positive mask of the coercive controller, rather than their true (negative and abusive) self. The coercive controller utilizes three main tactics to accomplish this: narcissistic mirroring, manipulative kindness and future-faking.
Mirroring:
"They use the words you use, claim to like the things you like, and copy your mannerisms. Narcissistic mirroring isn’t about true closeness (narcissists, in general, tend to avoid true intimacy). It’s a trick to make you feel comfortable with them, to gain your trust – to get you to lower your guard."
Manipulative Kindness:
“I call it manipulative kindness, because it's not love, it is manipulation,” Julie Owens, certified domestic violence counselor, trauma professional, and expert in the field of violence against women, tells Elite Daily. The perpetrator may be trying to flatter you in an attempt to regain (or gain) the upper hand in the relationship."
Future-Faking:
"Future faking is when someone uses a detailed vision of the future to facilitate the bonding and connection in a romantic relationship." Often the target doesn't know the coercive controller used this tactic until they discover that the coercive controller has actually been working AGAINST the future they claimed to be supporting.
Mirroring, manipulative kindness and future-faking cause the target to develop a confirmation bias over time. The target comes to believe that they are supremely loved, lucky or blessed to have found such a wonderful partner... their "soul mate". They see this person in a distorted positive light because of the constant mirroring, manipulative kindness and future-faking they are subjected to.
Double Vision starts to develop when the coercive controller's mask begins to slip. Because the coercive controller's Dr. Jekyll side is false, they cannot maintain it forever (although some are very good at maintaining it for a long time). Once the coercive controller has entrapped their target in some way, they begin to let their guard down. This might happen gradually with minor incidents of abuse, or it may be shockingly fast and severe, taking the target completely by surprise and causing them to feel fear, or even terror.
Slow and gradual shifts toward abuse are often excused away by the target as inconsequential, due to their confirmation bias that this person is not only safe, but their one and only true "soul mate". Targets can excuse away abusive behavior for a long time if they have been sufficiently groomed by the coercive controller to believe they are Dr. Jekyll. But the more Mr. Hyde shows himself, the more Double Vision will increase.
So, Double Vision is the target's version of Double Think. The main two distinctions between the two are who uses them and why. Double Think is intentional contradictory thinking that the coercive controller uses to justify and/or conceal their misdeeds, whereas Double Vision is the traumatized state of confusion it creates for the target. Double Think (in the PSQM™) harms, and Double Vision is the harm Double Think (and the other doubles) cause.
Double Vision includes more than just cognitive dissonance. Double Vision, in the PSQM™, also includes the harmful aftermath of being targeted by coercive control. Double Vision includes the ways that victims think, act and behave due to their extended exposure to a coercive controller. These responses to coercion and control, which are completely normal responses to being intentionally harmed by another person, are often misinterpreted as character defects, and used to blame the victim for the negative impacts caused by the perpetrator.
Double Vision includes: (Essentially, Double Vision is the PSQM™'s term for the Signs of Trauma)
1. Cognitive Dissonance: "Cognitive Dissonance is often described as “reality switching,” “ping-ponging” or what George Orwell called “doublethink,” where conflicting thoughts and contradictory realities pop up but you’re plagued with such intense self-doubt, confusion, and fog from the abuse that you’re not able resolve anything."
2. PTSD/CPTSD Symptoms: Enduring coercive control is torture. Therefore, it is no surprise that targeted victims of coercion and control can, and often do, develop severe physical, mental, emotional and psychological symptoms from having been tortured by a coercive controller.
3. Substance Abuse: Targeted victims experiencing Double Vision may use substances as a way to cope with the chronic stress of the abuse, or they may have been coerced through substance use coercion. One study found survivors of intimate partner violence had higher rates of substance abuse than those who had not been victimized (26% vs 5%).
4. Trauma-Coerced Attachment: Sometimes referred to as trauma-bonding, (but not Stockholm Syndrome, which was created to protect police from criticism by blaming the victim), Trauma-Coerced Attachment can result when a coercive controller intentionally exploits a target's vulnerabilities and natural human desire for connection to forge a false bond through intermittent reinforcement. Some like to refer to this as "love addiction", but while it certainly mimics addiction, it has nothing to do with love.
Now that we've discussed the #5Doubles it's time to revisit DARVO, which I will do in my next post.
Stay tuned...
