SV trauma

Traumatic are events, the effect of which exceeds the normal adaptive capacity of the body. They constitute a threat to human life and physical integrity. The most common factors that may cause psychological trauma include sudden attack, rape, war, natural disasters, etc.
Sexualized violence has a number of effects on the mental health of the victim. The effects of sexualized violence on mental health can be divided into short-term, mid-term and long-term effects. The psychological effects of sexualized violence are manifested at the emotional, behavioral, and cognitive levels.
The main emotional reactions of a person subjected to sexualized violence are fear / of situations that may remind them of the event; of medical and social consequences resulting from the event/, anxiety, suffering, depression, feelings of shame and guilt, apathy.
The cognitive symptoms are the repetition compulsion and the impression of reliving the situation, which is manifested by flashbacks, when the sexually abused person feels or behaves as if the traumatic event is happening at that very moment. The flashbacks mainly take the form of visual “flashes” but can also be olfactory and auditory.
People who have been sexually abused often have memory-related problems. They may have post-traumatic amnesia, when they do not remember details related to the incident or forget everything that happened, or post-traumatic hypermnesia, when they remember everything in detail, and may have difficulties retaining new information.
Another common symptom is dissociation. Dissociation is a normal reaction to a traumatic event and, in the case of sexualized violence, is often equated with psychological “freezing”. One of the most common manifestations is depersonalization, when the perception of one’s self is distorted. Some sexually abused persons have stated that they seem to have been separated from their body, that they observe the situation from the side. Another common manifestation is derealization, when problems related to the perception of the surroundings arise, and a person starts viewing things or people around them as foreign or unfamiliar.
One of the most common symptoms is confusion, which is mainly manifested by difficulty in focusing attention and spatial orientation problems, as well as difficulty in performing basic actions.
Behavioral symptoms include avoidance behavior from any stimulus that can remind of the traumatic event, hyperarousal (constant expectation of danger), sleep disorders, eating disorders, substance abuse, hygiene behavior change (excessive washing or vice versa), problems in interpersonal relationships, attempts at self-harm, suicide attempts, inappropriate laughter or crying (especially when telling stories related to negative emotions), leaving the house and walking in an unknown direction.
Persons subjected to sexualized violence also often have unexplained physiological problems, like pain in the stomach, muscle pains, headaches, neurovegetative symptoms (palpitation, tachycardia, difficulty breathing, excessive sweating), sexual dysfunction (lack or decline of sexual desire, increased sexual desire, vaginismus, menstrual disorders), hand muscle paralysis, speech disorders.
Note that the above-mentioned symptoms are individual, and many of them can be observed in the case of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to the DSM-5, post-traumatic stress disorder has a number of key diagnostic criteria: the presence of any type of traumatic experience, persistent symptoms, avoidance of factors and situations that remind of the trauma, negative changes in cognition and mood, hyperarousal. Each of these has its own symptoms, and their persistence for more than a month may affect the person’s adaptation and adaptation. Unfortunately, many studies show that 80% of sexually abused persons are likely to develop PTSD, compared to other traumatic life experiences that account for 24% likelihood of developing PTSD.
The risk factor increases to 87% if a person was subjected to sexualized violence in early childhood.
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