Post Traumatic Stress Trauma In Women

They also found that childhood sexual abuse was the most common trauma that lead to PTSD symptoms. These findings are in line with previous research on this topic or similar topics to this one. Although childhood sexual assault was the common, the authors noted that being stalked and being threatened produces the most severe symptoms of PTSD in the regression equation. Another finding that was consistent with previous research is that sudden death of a loved one was a traumatic even experienced more frequently by the participants. Even though this was a very diverse group in terms of ethnicity, it still found that men experienced robbery and stranger assault more frequently than women. These findings are also consistent with other research. The authors expressed that because the diagnoses were not based on research-based diagnoses but from clinical charts it may not be as reliable. They also noted that there may be some groups that were not represented in the study, such as those living with SMI in the inner

Stein, Dan J., Seedat, Soraya, Iversen, Amy, and Wesley, Simona, (2007), Post-traumatic stress disorder: medicine and politics, 369: 139 44

Rape Trauma Syndrome has three stages, Acute Phase, Outward Adjustment Phase and the Resolution Phase.17 The Acute Phase occurs after the initial attack (initial shock, anxiety).The Resolution Phase where the assault is no longer the focus of their life and have moved beyond it. The Outward Adjustment Phase is the stage that could last months or years and the one that the military system can affect positively with appropriate mental health care. In the Outward Adjustment Phase an individual may appear normal but have internal turmoil.18 Within this phase a majority of male survivors attempt to process it with two primary coping techniques: Minimization, the “everything is fine” and Suppression, act as if it did not happen.19 Men may use these coping mechanisms based on maintaining society’s definition of a man, so they try to minimize, suppress or internalize their perceived feelings of being weak or less of a man. This may cause anxiety in which they withdraw from relationships and avoid seeking

In “The Invisible War,” it is noted that “women who have been raped in the military have a PTSD rate higher than men who have been in combat” (The Invisible War, 2012). The impact that military sexual assault has on victims is tremendous. Both physical and mental trauma are common, and they play a significant role in how victims of sexual assault are able to return to their daily lives.

Clients who have experiences rape in the past can deal with traumatic reposes after the event. Many of them have to deal with the effect of the rape, such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Clients may feel that they are held back because of the trauma that happened to them. Clients could feel helpless and be reminded every day of the trauma that they had to endure. The topic of this paper is the use of trauma informed practice using social work practice in women who have PTSD and other trauma symptoms from enduring a past rape.

This paper reviews several articles that discuss the lasting effects that sexual abuse can have on a child into their adult years. The articles agree that victims of child sexual abuse (CSA) will most likely suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and/or experience revictimization. This paper will also address the common forms of coping that victims of child sexual abuse take part in. Some research will touch on proper healing techniques for victims of CSA to receive.

Victims of crime with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an important topic to the field of psychology because it occurs in many victims. It is also important to the field because through research its causes and etiology are able to be discovered, treatments are able to be developed and tested for those with the disorder, and ways are found to prevent the disorder in victims. PTSD is a severe anxiety disorder and is recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). The diagnostic criteria for PTSD include, “a history of exposure to a traumatic event meeting two criteria and symptoms from each of three symptom clusters: intrusive recollections, avoidant/numbing symptoms, and hyper-arousal symptoms,” (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Interest in PTSD in victims of crime is the reason for this literature. More interests include prevalence, differences in gender, and treatment options for those who are victims of crime experiencing trauma (sexual and non-sexual), as well as the measures taken to aide these victims. The following paper will discuss different aspects related to victims of crime with PTSD. The gender differences and treatment types for victims of crime with PTSD will be examined.

Sexual assault in the military against women is a very real and serious issue in the military. Sexual assault is more likely to cause PTSD than any other events throughout a woman’s lifetime. Not every woman who experiences traumatic events develop PTSD but preexisting factors can increase chances of developing PTSD. Some factors may include: “Having a past mental health problem (for example depression or anxiety), experienced a very severe or life-threatening trauma, were sexually assaulted, were injured during the event, had a severe reaction at the time of the event, Experienced other stressful events afterwards, do not have good social support” (Veteran Affairs). For women, PTSD symptoms are different than what men experience. Women compared

Existing controlled examinations of intervention efficacy specific to only sexual assault and rape are presently minimal in comparison to intervention examinations of combination or other types of trauma (Regehr, Alaggia, Dennis, Pitts, & Saini, 2013). Psychotherapeutic interventions that fail to differentiate sexual assault and rape victims from other types of trauma victims may decrease the treatment effectiveness or inadvertently harm participants in this subgroup. Trauma associated from rape or sexual assault differs from other forms of trauma and treatment efficacy should be examined in this manner. Trauma from rape or sexual assault entail symptoms of PTSD, depression, suicidal ideations and sexual dysfunction. Individuals may also indicate feelings of vulnerability, loss of control, fear, shame, self-blame, societal blame and stigma (Russell & Davis, 2007; Regehr et al., 2013; Ullman &Peter-Hagene, 2014). This research proposal intends to explore the long term effectiveness of Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE) at reducing distress and trauma explicitly for adult victims of sexual assault and rape.

The researcher’s topic is, why would rape be the victim’s fault. This researcher believes rape is never the victim’s fault, no matter what the situation may be. They believe individuals are blind to the existing issues that are involved with rape. Rape may only be considered physical, but there are existing mental issues that come from the tragedy of being raped. Many women are attacked “verbally and through social media” with information stating that the circumstance was “her fault” (Nathman, 2013). After seeing and hearing these thoughts from the public the victim soon believes if they had not been in the situation they were in they would have not been raped. Though this is not the case and rape will happen no matter the place or the circumstance. The posts and verbal shouts put a toll on a womans mental well-being and how they recover from the incident. It is well known that many victims of rape soon become depressed and antisocial after they are rapped because they do not get the help they deserve (Nathman, 2013).

The American Psychiatric Association first introduced acute stress disorder (ASD) as a diagnosis in the DSM-IV in an attempt to describe the acute stress reactions that preceded posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although acute stress disorder is still a fairly new diagnosis, trauma and the psychological effects of trauma have a long history of being studied. Most of the works on trauma however, focus heavily on the effects of war trauma and its relation to PTSD. A subject area that has had little attention is sexual trauma, especially sexual trauma and the development of acute stress disorder. This is particularly concerning since it has been reported that 94% of rape survivors meet the criteria for acute stress disorder shortly after their

Studies have shown that within the community victims of assault frequently feel susceptible and defenseless in the local community and the general population as a repercussion of the fear of a repeated assault (Stanko, E., 1990). Work life is also greatly affected. As a result of the sexual trauma, many victims have feelings of low self-respect and devaluation, causing the individual to avoid any social situations including work (Morrison, Quadara, & Boyd,

When looking at the actions of victims of a sexual assault the victim of each violation react in different ways after the violent personal event that can be seen as questionable by both law enforcement officials and that of the general public (Fisher, Cullen, and Turner, 2000). We see that some victims can flee from their event of rape or sexual assault and find help and safety as fast as possible. This type of action may be, seen as normal by law enforcement and the general public (Fisher, Cullen, and Turner, 2000).

Groups serve not only important to get an individual’s perspective on a situation, but they are equally important to allow individuals to see that they are not alone. Many people feel that they cannot connect with others because of their current problems, and it can be encouraging to hear others have similar circumstances. Unfortunately, at times, individuals can find it difficult to connect because of a fear of rejection and intolerance towards certain populations and is often the case for male rape survivors. While doing research on a particular group, I found limited research for males who are survivors of rape. Despite the current advance in multicultural counseling males who are survivors of rape, the population remains silent and

Ullman (2007) and Ullman and Filipas (2005) declared that the negative social reactions that others had toward adults that were sexually abused are positively associated with their PTSD symptoms. This was established after exploring and learning about abuse severity, the self-blame that survivors endure, and the coping mechanisms of the survivors. Many people fail to realize that everyone that interact with those who suffer with PTSD, whether it be within the neighborhood or community, school, or home, are affected.