Most of all, betrayal can take a toll on our ability to trust. Which, when severely so, can even induce paranoia.
It is usually most confusing when the betrayal comes from something or somebody who showed few to no signs of being capable of such. If you were generous with giving the benefit of the doubt despite it seeming likely, a betrayal would not catch you by so much surprise and, when it does, you can choose not to be as permissive next time. But if you were selective or it just happened to be a case of apparent trustworthiness, betrayal can significantly impair your ability to ever trust anything or anybody ever again.
Experiencing betrayal teaches you, for better and for worse, that trust isn’t always merited and you must be watchful or at least prepared for it. And that is fine, a part of life. However, when betrayal is experienced repeatedly, from many different sources, it can leave you believing that trusting is unwise. And perhaps that is so, depending on the state of humanity or on how humane the environment you find yourself in is.
Betrayal can also put you in the position of the victim that you’d never again wish to be in. And this desire can be so intense that you would choose to become the perpetrator so that you are never again wronged without you wronging too.
You may as well develop a persecution complex, whether or not it is well grounded in high probability. This will make you tense and restless, unable to drop your guard and actively formulating theories of ill intent, calculated approaches, and twisted purposes. You might choose to keep your distance and play it safe.
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