What is sexual assault?

Sexual assault is a broad term that describes any sexual act that is coerced or in which the victim is incapable of providing consent. Rape (including vaginal, anal, or oral penetration), drug facilitated assault, intimate partner violence, groping, and sexual torture are all forms of sexual assault, as are flashing, peeping, cat calls and sexual harassment.

How common is sexual assault?

Unfortunately, sexual assault is incredibly common. According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, someone in the United States is physically assaulted every 98 seconds. About 1 in 6 women and 1 in 10 men has been a victim of rape. The majority of sexual assaults are committed on people under the age of 30.

Who perpetrates sexual assault?

There is a general belief that most sexual assaults are committed by strangers, but that is not true. In reality, more than 70% of all sexual assaults are perpetrated by someone the victim already knows. About half of all perpetrators are over the age of 30. Sexual predators tend to be repeat offenders. In fact, more than half of all alleged rapists have been convicted of a least one prior rape.

What are the effects of sexual assault?

Sexual assault causes a staggering array of negative effects. Immediately after an attack, victims may have to cope with physical injuries, STDs, or pregnancy, as well as flashbacks, lingering feelings of fear, and insomnia. If these feelings persist, they can eventually lead to the development of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Victims of sexual assault are also at increased risk for developing depression, suicidal feelings, substance addiction, and eating disorders. Victims often have problems with trust after an assault and may have problems forming healthy relationships. They are at increased risk for self-harming behaviors.

The second injury

How a victim of sexual assault is treated right after an attack—or right after telling of an attack—has a direct impact on how quickly and how well she will heal. If victims are treated with callousness by medical personnel, law enforcement, friends or family, if they are blamed for the attack or not believed, they are much more likely to develop long-term symptoms of trauma. Historically, victims of sexual assault have been treated very poorly by other members of society, and many victims claim that this poor treatment is harder to deal with than the actual attack. This has led some to dubbed the poor treatment of victims the “second injury.”

What are remedies for the effects of sexual assault?

In order to insure the best long-term outcome for a victim, she or he must be treated with kindness and compassion directly after an assault—or anytime the victim chooses to disclose information about an assault. First and foremost, it is important to believe a victim of sexual assault. It is equally important not to imply to the victim that the attack was somehow her or his fault.

Directly after a sexual assault, helpers should ensure the victim’s physical safety and facilitate medical care if necessary. After this, it is important to give the victim control over the situation by allowing him or her to decide where to go and who to be with. Right after an assault, victims may or may not want to talk about what they’ve been through. It’s important not to press the matter. The first rules are to help the victim feel safe again and back in control.

If treated well by the people around them, many victims of sexual assault will naturally start to feel better over time. Others may need some form of group or individual psychotherapy to process what they’ve been through. Medication can also help in alleviating feelings of depression or anxiety.

With proper care and treatment, victims of sexual assault can overcome what they’ve been through and go one to lead satisfying, successful lives.

What is Dissociative Identity Disorder?

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a condition in which a person exhibits the behaviors of two or more distinct identities. Often various identities display amnesia for the actions of other identities, making people with DID seem forgetful. Formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder, the condition was first popularized in the media by books the books The Three Faces of Eve and Sybil.

How common is Dissociative Identity Disorder?

There is a myth that Dissociative Identity Disorder is extremely rare, but that is not true. Approximately 1% of the general population suffers from DID, making it about as prevalent as schizophrenia. People think DID is rare, because many people with the condition don’t know they have it.

How does Dissociative Identity present?

Despite media portrayals of DID as a dramatic condition in which various alternate personalities announce their presence and act strangely, in truth the changes among identities are usually subtle. They are so subtle, in fact, that even those closest to someone with DID might not realize he or she has it.

It is the nature of DID for sufferers not to recognize when they have switched personalities. While they often forget the things they’ve done when they are a different identity, people with DID also have what is known as “amnesia for the amnesia”—meaning they do not recognize that they have forgotten time.

What causes Dissociative Identity Disorder?

It’s generally believed that Dissociative Identity Disorder is caused by severe and repeated abuse in early childhood. In order to cope with frightening and dangerous situations, the child dissociates (or “zones out”) during abuse. Over time, the repeated dissociation affects the child’s still forming personality, leading to abnormal development.

The so-called “controversy” surrounding Dissociative Identity Disorder

Many sites and articles claim that Dissociative Identity Disorder is a “controversial” diagnosis. This is not true. Dissociative Identity Disorder is recognized by the American Psychiatric Association and has been for decades. In addition, all mainstream organizations that study psychological trauma recognize the validity of DID.

What are remedies for Dissociative Identity Disorder?

Because people with Dissociative Identity Disorder usually don’t realize they have it, they rarely seek treatment for the disorder. Instead, people with DID often seek treatment for other conditions such as depression, anxiety, PTSD or suicidality. During the course of therapy, if the therapist has had training in dissociative disorders, he or she may be able to recognize a case of DID. However, because most therapists haven’t been trained to look for symptoms of DID and believe it to be extremely rare, the condition is routinely misdiagnosed—on average for seven years.

​Once a person knows that they are suffering from DID, he or she should work with a competent therapist to treat the disorder. Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder usually takes many years of psychotherapy. In addition, medication is often needed to treat depression and anxiety, which are both common in people with DID.
With proper diagnosis and treatment, people with Dissociative Identity Disorder can improve immensely and go on to lead happy, fulfilling lives.

What is child sexual abuse?

Child sexual abuse describes any sexual behavior between an adult and someone under the age of eighteen. It can also describe sexual behavior between two underage people if there is a significant age difference between them or they are developmentally mismatched. While child sexual abuse includes obvious behaviors like touching and penetration, it also includes less obvious behaviors, such as looking at or showing body parts in a sexual manner, sharing pornography, or talking inappropriately about sex.

How common is child sexual abuse?

Unfortunately, child sexual abuse is incredibly common. Up to 40% of all women and 13% of all men in the United States report that they experienced at least one episode of sexual abuse in childhood. Internationally, some regions report that up to 60% of children are sexually abused, making it a problem of pandemic proportions.

Who commits child sexual abuse?

There is a general belief that most child molesters are strangers that take children by force, but this is not true. In actuality, 90% of all sexual abuse is committed by someone the child already knows—30% by family members (such as fathers, stepfathers, uncles and brothers) and 60% by acquaintances (such as teachers, coaches, neighbors, and clergymen). The vast majority of child molesters are heterosexual men.

Grooming

While some perpetrators will use violence and force to commit child sexual abuse, many don’t. Instead, they groom children for abuse. Grooming is a process by which an abuser slowly and methodically wears down a child’s resistance so that the child actually believes she or he has consented to sexual activities with the adult.
Even though a child or adolescent may feel that she or he consented and was somehow complicit in the sexual behavior, this is never true. Someone under the age of eighteen is too immature, emotionally and legally, to provide consent. Child molesters use this immaturity to manipulate their victims.
 
What are the effects of child sexual abuse?

Child sexual abuse can have long-term consequences for victims. Adults who were abused as children are at increased risk for future sexual assaults, depression, anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, substance abuse, self-harm behaviors such as cutting, suicidality, Borderline Personality Disorder, and dissociative disorders. Because sexual abuse happens while a child is still developing, it can permanently alter the victim’s sense of self, as well as his or her ability to trust others, making it difficult to form healthy relationships or enjoy healthy sexuality later in life.

What are remedies for the effects of child sexual abuse?

​Many adults who were sexually abused as children do not realize how it may have affected them, so they don’t seek help for the abuse. Instead, they eventually enter psychotherapy for secondary issues like anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and relationship problems. During the course of therapy, victims of child abuse often begin to see a link between their current problems and their past abuse. In remembering the abuse and mourning its damage, survivors can free themselves to lead more fulfilling lives.