What are the 3 sides of the abuser triangle?
Rachel Hickman
Published Feb 17, 2026
What are the 3 sides of the abuser triangle?
The three typical roles in the trauma triangle include the victim, rescuer and perpetrator or persecutor. Trauma survivors will enact all three roles at different times.
What is the victim perpetrator triangle?
The drama triangle (first described by Stephen Karpman in 1961) is used in psychology to describe the insidious way in which we present ourselves as “victims,” “persecutors” and “rescuers.” Although all three are ‘roles’ and none may be true to who we really are, we can all get caught in a cycle that is hard to escape.
What happens when a victim stays in the triangle?
Each corner of the triangle depicts a role that people play in the game of a dysfunctional relationship. The victim usually hooks the other person into becoming a rescuer and if the victim role fails, the individual may switch roles into becoming the persecutor as a more overt means of accomplishing the goal.
What is the Drama Triangle theory?
The Drama Triangle was first described by Stephen Karpman in the 1960s. It is a model of dysfunctional social interactions and illustrates a power game that involves three roles: Victim, Rescuer, and Persecutor, each role represents a common and ineffective response to conflict.
How do I stop being a rescuer?
Here are 4 helpful tips to stop rescuing and start supporting
- Listen to their worries, without trying to fix it for them.
- Ask them supportive questions. This takes a little practice. Just focus on what you would ask yourself in a difficult situation.
- Offer them lots of validation and encouragement.
- Take time.
What is the codependent triangle?
The Codependent Triangle is essentially a map of a very chaotic lifestyle. Outwardly, codependency in relationships is about others trying unsuccessfully to stop or control the addictive behavior of their friend or family member.
How do you break out of a Drama Triangle?
Five Steps to Breaking the Drama Triangle
- 1 – Recognize the Drama Triangle. Accepting the pattern of the Drama Triangle is the first step in changing it.
- 2 – Ask “How Can I Help?”
- 3 – Be Blunt . . . But Be Careful.
- 4 – Ask “And What Else?” (aka, the best coaching question in the world)
- 5 – Listen.
What is rescuer syndrome?
The Rescuer Syndrome Rescuers don’t realise their behaviour is compulsive and dysfunctional – they believe that given all the efforts they make, their efforts are helpful. But the ultimate aim of helping is to make the helpers’ continued intervention unnecessary and rescuers can’t accept this inevitable redundancy.
Do trauma survivors cycle through all the roles in the triangle?
Trauma survivors may tend toward the behaviors and relating patterns of one role in the triangle. But most survivors will cycle through all the roles depending on what’s triggered in a relationship. Shawntres Parks, LMFT, a couples- and trauma-focused therapist with Couples Learn, described each role in detail:
Are there real victims of crime in drama triangles?
There can be real victims of crime or racism or abuse, etc.] The three roles of the drama triangle are archetypal and easily recognizable in their extreme versions. The stance of the victim is “poor me!”
What is Karpman’s trauma triangle?
Stephen Karpman, M.D., developed the concept as the drama triangle, which was later adapted as the trauma triangle by the therapeutic spiral method, a modified form of psychodrama. The three typical roles in the trauma triangle include the victim, rescuer and perpetrator or persecutor.
What is the difference between a victim and a perpetrator?
The Victim typically embodies hopelessness and helplessness, feeling as if they have no control over their internal and external worlds. The Perpetrator is the part that holds anger around the traumatic event.