Abstract
When a parent or caregiver whose charge it is to love and protect is also a perpetrator of abuse, love and abuse become acceptable partners. The child's world is changed. The blueprint for loving relationships includes the acceptance of harm and betrayal without accountability. Betrayal trauma theory (Freyd, 1996, p. 10) explains “the ability to detect betrayal may need to be stifled for the greater goal of survival.” This article will explore the impact of betrayal trauma on our clients' experience and understanding of love. Issues of love and betrayal are frequent in our clients' trauma stories, and in their presenting problems as adults. Where love is addressed in our professional literature, however, it is mostly in the context of warning about boundary violations and reenactments. This article shows how the therapeutic relationship provides opportunities to reshape our clients' traumatic understanding of love and discusses why love needs to become a central theme in our treatment of survivors of betrayal trauma.