"A patient is then weighed down by the same burdens as a rape victim becoming a carrier of the projections of others who ascribe reasons why this illness happened to this person. Blame - the - victim "reasons" are punitive. They are very different from objective causes-and-effect reasons, the seeking of which can lead to solutions, cures, and preventative treatment for medical and social problems. When people are afraid that what has happened to someone else could happen to them they often distance themselves from the victim. If they can blame the victim they feel safer or superior, which is the unconscious motivation. Blame is also a way of shifting guilt onto someone else." - Jean S. Bolen MD