Mental health consequences of sexual assault
Sexual assault is an act of violence that is, by definition, against the victim’s will. The victim is forced to submit to genital, oral and/or anal sexual acts due to aggression, abuse and degradation. The attacker controls the situation by using physical force, threats of harm and intimidation. The victim fears she is going to be killed or injured. She feels that survival is dependent on compliance and submission to the offender’s demands.
The terms childhood sexual abuse and adulthood sexual violence are based on definitions developed by the American Medical Association. Childhood sexual abuse consists of contact abuse, ranging from fondling to rape and non-contact abuse, such as modeling inappropriate sexual behavior, forced involvement in child pornography or indiscriminate exposure of the genitals.
Adulthood sexual violence includes contact and non-contact acts performed without the survivors’ consent. Sexual violence is defined as completed or attempted contact between the penis and the vulva or the penis and the anus, which involves contraction; contact between the mouth and the penis, vulva or anus; penetration of the anus or genital opening; and intentional touching of the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh or buttocks.
Non-contact acts include indecent exposure of the genitalia, verbal and behavioral sexual harassment. These acts are considered sexual violence if they are non-consensual or committed against someone that is unable to provide consent.
The object of concern here is consent, which definitely must have been involved at the inception of marital relationship as a statutory requirement but equally crucial in the dynamic living out of the contracted relationship.
Consent in the context of mental health and possibly, in the eye of the law must be dynamic since it provides the psychological visa for a partner to explore the body of the giver within a consensual framework that insulates the partner from mental distress. This paradigm actually overrules a lot of our draconian, primitive, cultural and religious values as it guarantees mental well-being.
Adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse report problems with low sexual interest and few close relationships. In other cases, some survivors display high risk sexual behaviors (e.g. promiscuity) that may be attributed in part to modelling some of the behaviors shaped earlier in life by the perpetrator.
Extreme experiences of victimization are also associated with symptoms of borderline personality disorder characterized by enduring patterns of instability in relationships, goals, values and mood; non-fatal suicidal behavior and suicidal threats and other harmful impulsive behaviors.
Victims of adult sexual trauma are vulnerable to immediate distress, fear, anxiety and confusion. They also experience emotional detachment, flashbacks and sleeping problems. Some develop depressive illness, physical symptoms without medical conditions, severe preoccupations with physical appearances, sexual dysfunction and extreme body piercing and tattooing. Some may have deliberate self-harm and abuse illicit drugs.
Parents, mental health workers, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders should provide platforms for the referral and care of victims as we encourage disclosures, reduce stigma and raise awareness of available interventions for victims. Parents also must be vigilant to protect children from sexual victimization.
Source – The Punch
