Jennifer Freyd

Who is Jennifer Freyd?

Jennifer J. Freyd is an American psychologist, Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon, and editor of the Journal of Trauma & Dissociation. Freyd is known for her theories of dynamic mental representations and shareability and her discovery of the phenomenon of representational momentum. Freyd has published over 150 articles. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In the last two decades, Freyd has researched and written extensively on sexual abuse and memory, the ethics of research on trauma, and developed the concept of betrayal trauma. In light of President Barack Obama's initiative to protect students from sexual assault, Freyd's work on institutional betrayal, conducted in collaboration with PhD student Carly P. Smith, has documented that this type of betrayal exacerbates the psychological impact of sexual violence, including increased anxiety, dissociation, and sexual dysfunction.