Adult
Sexual Trauma and Rape
This is a rough
guide of issues for NLP Practitioners and Hypnotherapists to consider when
working with clients who have been adult victims of sexual trauma such as
rape.
- A common issue with people
playing the role of "therapist" is that the person playing the
role of "client" will often mention things that trigger off
reactions and issues in the "therapist" and the "therapist"
then begins to engage in a series of behaviours to adjust the client accordingly.
i.e. the client finds themselves being adjusted according to the `reaction
set` of the therapist.
- More than one inexperienced
therapist has found themselves adopting the "protective male"
role in order to nurture the vulnerable female client.
- Abreaction therapy with clients
is rarely beneficial. Having the client relive trauma does little to improve
mental state and can be detrimental in both the short and long term.
- Never pursue memories of
trauma - a whole field of "recovered memory therapy" emerged
in the 1980's and led therapists and their clients into a quagmire of
legal, social, psychological and ethical problems.
- Some traumatised victims
will be seeking to make everything all right again, i.e. they wish that
if only they can go back to what they were like before the assault etc.
then everything will be fine again. The fact is that their identity is
now changed - they are the person who had this happen to them, and living
in denial of this is no solution (one client consulted me with severe
panic attacks that developed after seeing an NLP/hypnotherapist who attempted
to induce amnesia for the assault without addressing any other issue).
In these terms, a client may run this script, "that sort of thing
shouldn't happen to me, that is what happens to other people, not me"
and they go along to their friendly NLP practitioner who performs a double
dissociation and, hey presto, in the representation of the event it is
seen as...happening to someone else.
- There is a horribly high
percentage of female victims of "single episode" rape being
raped a second time within 10 years.
- Guilt, shame, humiliation,
embarrassment and self-blame are common responses. Reassurance rarely
works, especially where the victims led a "high risk" lifestyle
prior to the assault.
- The victim may have been
infected by the assailant with a sexually transmitted disease. Where the
rape has gone unreported, it is also likely that the victim won't be screened
at an STD clinic until symptoms emerge (this can take days to weeks).
This can create further levels of disgust and self loathing. Fear of HIV
infection is nearly always very high.
- To screen for HIV infection,
an initial blood test is required and then again in 6 months as antibody
levels take some months to develop.
- Microbial and bacterial STDs
are invariably curable. Herpes and HIV are not. Herpes infections recur
throughout life and there is an 80% chance of a sexual partner being infected
within 2 years, despite best efforts at precautions. Where the victim
is infected with herpes as a result of rape it is an almost certainty
that their partner/future partner will be infected also. This throws up
a new set of issues for the victim and partners.
- Assailants rarely see themselves
as "rapists" and where the assailant is known to the victim,
the assailant may behave as though the assault was a normal consensual
sexual liaison. In these situations, the victim may spend a significant
period of time in the company of the assailant whilst mentally seeking
a safe point of exit. During this time the victim may drink tea, eat a
meal, or even go for a walk with the assailant.
- The majority of rapes go
unreported to the police. Of those reported to the police, very few are
ever taken to court. Of those taken to court, very few result in a conviction.
Under 6% of rape cases reported to the police result in a conviction.
A Home Office research study published in 2005 "A Gap or a Chasm?
Attrition in Reported Rape Cases" found that 80% of cases did not
get beyond the investigation stage.
- A significant proportion
of rapes are perpetrated by someone known to the victim. In these instances,
the victim may well work with, live nearby, or be related to the attacker.
When such an attack goes to court or is made public, the social consequences
to the victim can be huge as gossip develops and other people start taking
sides. In scenarios like this, it is not unusual for friendship and social
groups to break down.
- Perpetrators are remarkably
adept at attacking/exploiting victims they know that no-one will believe,
are disliked already by the peer group, are already vulnerable to attack,
or live high risk lifestyles.
- Male victims of rape by another
male[s] rarely report the incident, especially where there is a
surprisingly low level of, or complete absence of, violence.
- It is not unusual for male
victims of rape/sexual assault to experience penile erection during the
assault.
- Male victims of sexual assault
are stereotypically viewed by the lay-public as being weak and homosexual,
whilst the perpetrator is seen as the dominant, desirable, heterosexual
male.
- The media rarely report the
level of violation that the victim can undergo at the hands of an assailant.
"Rape" is seen by many as simple an non-consensual penile/vaginal
penetration. Further humiliation is incurred when the victim is forced
to pleasure the assailant and play an active sexual role. Often the perpetrator
will exploit character vulnerabilities, and whilst the penetration may
be quite brief, the victim may be held and controlled by the perpetrator
for many minutes to hours. It is not unusual for the perpetrator to express
the belief that the victim "deserved" to be assaulted, or even
in some way is lucky to finally have been taken by a "real man"
etc etc. The mental rape of the victim can be far more psychologically
damaging in the long term that the physical act itself.
- Male partners of female
victims tend to handle things very badly when told of the rape. Often
the victim will not tell her partner for fear of how he will react. One
partner of a rape victim told me, in front of her, that the relationship
wasn't all that good to begin with "...and then she goes and gets
herself raped." Often the partner's reaction can be one of shock
and disbelief and then guilt. Often, when the partner is told, he is told
a significant period of time after the assault. Suddenly the partner is
now faced with the explanation of why his partner has been behaving so
screwy recently, and he now experiences guilt over the way he in turn
has been behaving towards her.
- The partner's reaction can
complicate issues especially when he responds with the understandable
desire to seek retribution. The partner's reaction can effectively (albeit
inadvertently) highjack the issue away from the victim as the issue now
becomes one of his desire to seek retribution or whatever, and
now the victim is experiences a role reversal as the partner grabs the
victim status.
- The partner often undergoes a crisis in which his sexual future is brought into question - i.e. can he ever be passionate with his partner again?
Web
Resources
Rape Crisis UK
This site aims to provide the basic information that survivors, friends
and family need to access the services they need.
Truth
About Rape
"This campaign was formed to challenge myths about rape, and bring the
truth and realities of rape back onto the public agenda. Since the launch
in November 2002 we been responsible for providing critical comment on a number
of media related issues on rape."
Metropolitan
Police Advise For Victims of Rape
This information has been provided in consultation with the Sexual Offenses
Consultative Group (Metropolitan Police Service) comprising representatives
(male and female) from Victims Support Service, Rape Support Agencies, Community
Safety Partnerships, Crown Prosecution Service, the medical profession and
victims (survivors) together with the Association of Chief Police Officers
of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Chief Constables’ Council.
Audio/Visual Resources
A number of well made, if somewhat uncomfortable, films explore the issues of rape and sexual trauma and the issues arising from them. I offer these as suitable viewing for therapists wishing to know more of what occurs during sexual trauma but feel they do not make advisable viewing for victims of such trauma or anyone without an active interest in understanding what it means to be raped.
Happiness
Film exploring sexual politics and deviancy.
Last
House on The Left
This film is disgusting and makes for one of the most uncomfortable viewing
experiences. It simply documents what a gang do to two female victims and
it portrays the act and the horror of it well.
Irreversible
This is the film that led to mass walkouts at the Cannes film festival owing
the graphic nature of the rape scene. The British Board of Film Classification
permitted its release unedited.