7 developed and shaped inappropriately and dysfunctionally at an interpersonal level. Betrayal involves the discovery by a child that someone on whom he or she is vitally dependent has caused the child harm. It can be experienced at the hands of an abuser or a family member who is unable or unwilling to protect or believe the child or who has a changed attitude to the child after disclosure of the abuse. Powerlessness develops through the repeated contravention of a child’s will, desires and sense of efficacy. It is reinforced when children see their attempts to halt the abuse frustrated and is increased by fear and an inability either to make adults understand or believe what is happening or to realize how conditions of dependency have trapped them in the situation. Stigmatization refers to the negative connotations – badness, shame, guilt – that are communicated to the child and become incorporated into the child’s self-image: ‘These negative meanings are communicated in many ways. They can come directly from the abuser, who may blame the victim for the activity, demean the victim, or furtively convey a sense of shame about the behaviour. Pressure for secrecy from the offender can also convey powerful messages of shame and guilt. But stigmatization is also reinforced by attitudes that the victim infers or hears from other persons in the family or community. Stigmatization may thus grow out of the child’s prior knowledge or sense that the activity is considered deviant and taboo, and it is certainly reinforced if, after disclosure, people react with shock or hysteria, or blame the child for what has transpired. Children may be additionally stigmatized by people in their environment who now impute other negative characteristics to the victim (loose morals, “spoiled goods”) as a result of the molestation.’ Further the authors report: