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Medical Video: Common Behaviors of Child Sexual Abuse Survivors
According to Komnas Perempuan, an average of 35 women are victims of sexual violence in Indonesia every day. Nearly 70 percent of cases of violence against women, both fatal and non-fatal, are carried out by family members or partners (boyfriend or husband).
Although the consequences of each crime and the victim's experience are different, there is growing evidence about the relationship between victims of sexual violence and mental and physical health. Physical injury and death are the most obvious consequences of cases of violence. In the first 4 months of 2016, there were 44 Indonesian women, teenagers and adults, who died in the hands of spouses or former sexual partners after receiving sexual abuse, reported by BBC - but there are other consequences that are more commonly found now increasingly recognized.
Various reactions can affect the victim. The effects and effects of sexual violence (including rape) can include physical, emotional and psychological trauma.
What causes trauma?
When physical danger threatens the authority of our bodies, the ability to escape is an instinct that cannot be controlled to survive. This condition includes the body devoting so much energy to issuing a blurring reaction or turning back. These short circuits bounce in a person's body and mind, which can cause shock, dissociation, and various other types of unconscious responses while acts of violence occur.
This shorting remains in the individual long after the violence has ended, and can be attached to the mind, body, and soul of a person in various ways.
Trauma experienced by victims of sexual violence
The following effects are not always easy to handle, but with the right help and support, they can be managed well. Learning more deeply can help you find the best form of care to begin the healing process, for you and your loved ones.
1. Depression
Self-blame is one of the most common short-term and long-term effects, functioning as an instinctive skill to overcome problems with avoidance that inhibits the healing process.
There are two types of self-blame, based on actions and character. Self-blame based on action feels they should be able to do something different, which can avoid them from the unfortunate incident, and therefore feel guilty. Character self-blame occurs when he feels something is wrong with them, which causes them to feel worthy to be victims.
Blaming yourself is closely related to depression. Depression is a mood disorder that occurs when feelings associated with sadness and despair continue to occur continuously for long periods of time to disrupt a healthy mindset.
Normal for victims of crime to feel sad, angry, unhappy, and desperate. Depression and self-blame are serious mental health issues and do not indicate weakness, nor is it something that is expected to heal by itself as easily as turning the palm of the hand. Five ways of depression and self-blame can damage a person: lack of motivation to seek help, lack of empathy, isolating oneself from others, anger, and aggression — including self-mutilation and / or suicide attempts.
2. Rape Trauma Syndrome
Rape Trauma Syndrome (Rape Trauma Syndrome / RTS) is a derivative form of PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder), as a condition that affects female victims - young and adult - from sexual violence. Sexual violence, including rape, is seen by women as a life threatening situation, has a general fear of mutilation and death while an attack occurs.
Immediately after rape, survivors often experience shock. They tend to feel cold, faint, experience disorientation (mental confusion) trembling, nausea and vomiting. Post-incident, it is common for victims to experience insomnia, flashbacks, nausea and vomiting, easily shocked and shocked responses, tension headaches, agitation and aggression, isolation, and nightmares, as well as dissociative symptoms or numbness and increased fear and anxiety.
Although some of these symptoms can represent descriptions of symptoms that arise in war veterans, victims of rape and sexual violence experience unique problems after an attack, such as abdominal or lower back pain, throat irritation due to oral sex coercion, gynecological problems (heavy and irregular menstruation, vaginal discharge or other discharge from the vagina, bladder infection, infectious venereal disease, and unwanted pregnancy followed by preeclampsia), behaving like violence never happened (called rejection), fear of sex, even loss of sexual desire and interest.
It is important to note that RTS is a natural response from someone who is psychologically and physically healthy towards rape trauma, so the above signs and symptoms are not a representation of a mental disorder or illness.
3. Dissociation
In the simplest terms, dissociation is a release from reality. Dissociation is one of the many defense mechanisms used by the brain to deal with the trauma of sexual violence. Many experts believe that dissociation is on a spectrum. At one end of the spectrum, dissociation is associated with daydreaming experiences. At the opposite end, complex and chronic dissociation can make it difficult for sufferers to function in the real world.
Dissociation is often described as the experience of "spirit out of the body", in which a person feels unattached to his body, feels that his surroundings seem unreal, not involved in the environment in which he is watching TV on television.
Some mental health experts believe that the cause of dissociative disorders is chronic trauma that occurs during childhood. Individuals who experience traumatic events will often experience some degree of dissociation - partial amnesia, move around and have a new identity, to the worst, multiple personalities - when experiencing the event or days, weeks afterwards.
It may be frightening to see someone who experiences secession from the real world (to be distinguished from isolation), but this condition is a natural reaction to trauma.
4. Eating disorders
Sexual violence can affect survivors in various ways, including self-perception of the body and autonomy of self-control in eating habits. Some people may use food as an outlet to deal with trauma, to feel back in control of their body, or to compensate for feelings and emotions that overwhelm them. This action only provides temporary asylum, but has the ability to damage the body in the long run.
There are three types of eating disorders, namely: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating. However, it is still possible for survivors to be involved in eating disorders outside of these three conditions which are equally dangerous,
Reporting from Medical Daily, bulimia and anorexia are common in adult women survivors of sexual violence when children. In a study from the University of Melbourne, researchers examined the relationship between sexual violence during childhood (before age 16 years) and the beginning of the emergence of two eating disorders in women. Of the 1,936 participants - who were involved in ongoing research for 11 years - averaging 15-24 years of age, those who experienced two or more sexual attacks had an almost five-fold increase in bulimia syndrome than those who experienced only one sexual violence, with opportunity 2.5 times.
5. Hypoactive sexual desire disorder
Hypoactive sexual desire disorder (IDD / HSDD) is a medical condition that signifies low sexual desire. This condition is also commonly called sexual apathy or sexual aversion.
HSDD can be a primary or secondary condition, which can make a big difference in treatment planning. The primary condition is if an individual has never experienced or had sexual desire, and rarely (if ever) is involved in sexual relations - does not start and does not respond to the sexual stimulation of his partner.
HSDD is a secondary condition when the person has normal and healthy sexual arousal at first, but then becomes completely uninterested and indifferent due to other causes, for example, in the form of real trauma resulting from sexual abuse. Sex, for survivors of sexual crime cases, can be a trigger that reminds them of the event and raises flashbacks and nightmares - so they choose not to get involved, and ultimately lose their sexual appetite entirely.
6. Dyspareunia
Dyspareunia is pain that is felt during or after sexual intercourse. This condition can attack men, but is more often found in women. Women who have dyspareunia may experience superficial pain in the vagina, clitoris, or labia (vaginal lips), or pain that is more crippling when deeper penetration or penis push.
Dyspareunia is caused by a variety of conditions, one of which includes trauma from a history of sexual violence. The history of sexual violence in women who have dyspareunia is associated with an increase in psychological stress and sexual dysfunction, but no association was found between dyspareunia and a history of physical violence.
Some women can experience extreme tightening of the vaginal muscles during penetration, a condition called vaginismus.
7. Vaginismus
When a woman has vaginismus, her vaginal muscles squeeze or convulse themselves when something enters her, such as a tampon or penis - even during a routine pelvic examination by a gynecologist. This can feel a little uncomfortable or very painful.
Painful sex is often the first sign that a woman has vaginismus. The pain experienced only occurs during penetration. Usually it will disappear after withdrawal, but not always. Women who have this condition describe their pain as a sensation of tears or like a man hitting a wall.
Doctors don't know exactly what causes vaginismus. However, allegations are usually related to extreme anxiety or fear of having sex - including from the trauma of a history of sexual violence. However, it is not clear which one comes first, vaginismus or anxiety.
8. Type 2 diabetes
Adults who experience all forms of sexual harassment as children are at a higher risk of developing serious medical conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes.
In a study published in The American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers investigated the relationship between sexual abuse experienced by adolescents and type 2 diabetes. The findings reported 34 percent of 67,853 female participants who reported having type 2 diabetes had experienced sexual violence.
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