I really appreciated this piece, but I think it’s important to note that survivors are often outcasted by others, not the other way around. Being a survivor of multiple traumas often corresponds with possessing marginalized identities, which may be dismissed by the mainstream. Often the more we reclaim our bodies and construct a “normal” life, the more we spend time with people who have very different life experiences and identities from our own. The consequences of emotional isolation or misery or public shaming, even, are not our fault and not our choice.

The scapegoat and the outcast are two sides of the same coin.