Sexual Assault and PTSD by Laura OBrien
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Sexual Assault and PTSD Argosy University
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Sexual Assault and PTSD by Laura OBrien
- 1. Sexual Assault and PTSD Laura A. O’Brien Argosy University
Editor's Notes
- Having gathered peer-reviewed research containing empirical statistics, not one article was found that negates the concept that sexual assault and PTSD are related. In fact, the more recent the studies, the findings seem to relate PTSD as a result as opposed to simply naming some of the symptoms, such as depression. “ Across all types of abuse, women were more than twice as likely to develop PTSD as men. The sex difference was greatest among sexual abuse victims. Female victims' greater revictimization explained a substantial proportion (39%) of the sex differences in PTSD risk ” (Koenen & Windom, 2009).
- General psychological distress is the most commonly examined outcome of abuse found in the coping literature, followed closely by psychosocial outcomes such as PTSD, dissociation, depression, and interpersonal problems including sexual dysfunction and revictimization as discussed in the research article “ Psychotic Experiences in People who have been Sexually Assaulted” by Kilcommons, Morrison, Knight, & Lobban (2008) which closely ties sexual assault and PTSD.
- Further developing studies on children may benefit their healing process and help to avoid dysfunctional personal perceptions as they grow older, and, if recognized early enough, can spare triggering trauma responses that may last a life time until recovery steps are taken.
- This study is particularly tuned into the theory of childhood sexual assault (CSA) and adult revictimitzation. Coping strategies of children are known to be resilient, but are not alike in all children, so the degree of the abuse and the individual child, as a victim, are extremely relevant. Fortier et al (2009) sought to prove coping strategies are amenable to change and thus represent viable targets for intervention among individuals dealing with the negative effects, such as PTSD, of abuse. Coping strategies used by individuals during childhood included attempts to stop the abuse, avoidance, psychological escape, and compensation, while adult strategies involved breaking away from the past, cognitive coping, self-discovery, and revisiting the past.
- It is recognized more research is needed in the area of men/boys and sexual assault. There are few studies regarding the victimization of males, such as written by Moore (2006), and Spencer & Dunklee (1986), as opposed to the plethora found regarding women/girls. However, Koenen and Widom (2009) propose that women are twice as likely as men to develop PTSD as previously mentioned. Their assertion comes from documented reported childhood sexual abuse: girls have a higher history than boys of sexual victimization, sexual assault and rape. Their studies show over 20% of men and over 40% of women met lifetime criteria for PTSD relating to childhood sexual abuse.
- In conclusion, future research questions would be two-fold; one would broaden the scope of studies to include males. There are studies that acknowledge that those who have survived sexual assault, as a child will go on to become an abuser (Moore, 2006). In addition, further developing studies on children may benefit their healing process and help to avoid dysfunctional personal perceptions as they grow older, and if recognized early enough can spare triggering a trauma response that may last a life time until recovery steps are taken. However, studies relate that more men are abusers than women, therefore a hypothesis would be women will “a c t in ” by becoming depressed and suffering from PTSD, and men will “a c t out ” and victimize as a means to deal with their trauma which needs to be studied more fully with greater detail.