Prof. Yael Lahav - Research Projects
DARA
The DARA theory, developed by Prof. Lahav, highlights a subtle yet impactful psychological consequence of abuse: the compromised ability to form confident appraisals of the abusive experience. This phenomenon - Doubt Regarding Abuse-Related Appraisals (DARA) - reflects survivors’ pervasive uncertainty not about whether abuse occurred, but about how to interpret and evaluate it. Unlike other trauma-related appraisals that are typically negative or distorted, DARA involves difficulty forming coherent judgments about the nature, severity, and legitimacy of the abuse, as well as the survivor’s role and the character of the perpetrator. The theory emphasizes how abuse often takes place within a confusing mix of care and harm, leading to cognitive disorientation. To empirically explore DARA, we developed the Abuse Doubt Scale (ADS) - a reliable and valid measure of this phenomenon (Lahav et al., under review). Our recent research shows that higher levels of DARA are associated with increased guilt, shame, PTSD, complex PTSD, depression, anxiety, and suicidality among abuse survivors.
Intimate partner violence
Risk Factors and Mechanisms Underlying PTSD
Identification with the aggressor
This study is a novel attempt to understand barriers for self-disclosing and help-seeking among women who suffer from intimate partner violence. We are also examining the somatic ramifications of continuous exposure to intimate partner violence over time.
Our research among civilians exposed to war investigates the psychological mechanisms that contribute to the development of PTSD. Specifically, our studies offer new insights into how peritraumatic dissociation and tonic immobility during missile attacks may predict later PTSD symptoms.
Identification with the aggressor (IWA), a concept originally developed by Sándor Ferenczi, is proposed to serve as a mechanism promoting victims’ survival during the abuse by their taking on and adopting their perpetrators' experience. This mechanism may develop as a result of power asymmetry between the victim and perpetrator, when the victim cannot escape, evade, or prevent the attacks.
In 2019, we created a self-reported questioner that assesses identification with the aggressor – the Identification With the Aggressor Scale (IAS). Since then, various studies that we conducted among survivors of child abuse and intimate partner violence have revealed the implications of identification with the aggressor for negative outcomes, such as dissociation, non-suicidal self-injury, sexual revictimization, suicidal ideation and behavior, re-victimization, PTSD and CPTSD.