Treatment of Rape Victims
Rape The Aftermath
Most rape victims do not experience chronic psychiatric disorders. The only rampant effects of rape are those which are associated with disturbances of the mind. Most of the psychological trauma as a result of rape results to substance misuse and phobic anxiety. Additionally, there are depression and stress disorders (Mezev, 1997). The long term consequences reveal the terrifying, violent and traumatic nature of the rape ordeals. Other symptoms include generalized anxiety, sexual dysfunction, depression and public anxiety. There are also feelings of loss, vulnerability, irritability, anger and loss of confidence. The victims also experience low self esteem, and have an impaired capacity for intimacy. However, the most important thing is the kind of treatment that they receive from the community agencies. It determines whether they heal quickly or not (Mezev, 1997).
Rape treatment is a very complex procedure. This is because despite of it being an individual psychological and physical trauma, it is a criminal activity. Therefore, the parties that deal with rape cases include both the police and the medical experts (Ostremen, Barbiaz Johnson, 2001). According to Campbell, Seft Ahrens, (2003), the health distresses that the rape victims go through are real and very common. Rape victims are more likely to have several kinds of chronic illnesses than non victims. These include arthritis, asthma and diabetes. They also experience gastrointestinal symptoms like indigestion, constipation and nausea. The reasons why the rape victims have many problems than the non rape victims is not known. Therefore, utmost care should be taken when dealing with the victims of sexual assault, whether men or women.
Fair Treatment of the rape victims
Forensic examinations
The first step that is taken once a rape occurs is to inform the police. Once a rape incident has occurred to victims, there is a certain period of time which the state has set that the evidence may be collected. If the time has already elapsed, then the medical examination continues. A legal statement is required, which includes the history of the patient and a detailed description of the sexual assault. Incase the patient does not share the same language as the officer interviewing him or her, or has impairments in his or her hearing a hospital interpreter should be sought. A relative should not talk on behalf of the victim because it would violate the evidence and the law. Women are the most assaulted victims in the world today. The information collected from them by the legal officers include the last menstrual period date, past health history, physical illnesses, allergies and the current pregnancies (Ostremen, Barbiaz Johnson, 2001).
After all information has been got from the patient, the patients clothing is collected. Samples of seminal fluid and sperm are also collected as proper evidence for anal, oral and vaginal examination. Additionally, evidence from blood swabs, fingernail scrapings, hair, saliva and some fibers from the body of the victim are also collected. The sexual assault victim should also be screened on whether she was drunk or had used drugs. This information is also important for the forensic examination. All theses reports should be forwarded to the forensic experts, so that they can assist in tracing the criminal (Ostremen, Barbiaz Johnson, 2001).
Therapy
Relaxation and Rational Emotive therapy
The women rape victims need therapy to assist them in relaxation. The first step is that of muscle relaxation. This helps the victim overcome all attacks of anxiety and help them sleep. In addition, relaxation helps the victims to lessen the number of times she cries and the frequencies of the headaches. Rational emotive therapy is one of them, whose purpose is to help the victim overcome trauma, and all the feelings of fear. This therapy helps the rape victims to be assertive. Group therapy is also important as it assists the rape victims to benefit emotionally (Psychology Today, 2010).
Group and art therapy
When women who have been victims of rape come together and share out their experiences, their level of anxiety and fear is reduced. Those who had been previously numb also get the confidence to talk out as they share with the group. Group therapy is also combined with art therapy. Art therapy includes narration of how they managed to overcome the bitterness and trauma that they had. Also, they engage in activities such as puppet making, story telling, face painting and autobiographical performances. These activities have helped the victims ease their pain and fear (Psychology Today, 2010).
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is also another way in which the sexual assault victims are assisted. There are several feminist groups which deal with self-hypnosis in the U.S. and the world at large. These groups have benefited the female rape victims a lot. Ordinarily, the victims usually have a sense of guilt, helplessness, social isolation and fear. Hypnosis helps to do away with all these negative feelings (Psychology Today, 2010). Studies have revealed that hypnosis is beneficial when fused with family therapy. There have been very many cases where hypnosis of the rape victim has occurred together with the husband of the victims. In one instance, a husband of one rape victim was always enraged when the woman purged out her pent up emotions. This revealed that even if the assault was not committed to him, he was equally traumatized. This trauma was however undone through the hypnosis process. The woman was able to overcome her anxiety and fear. She also dealt with the abandonment feelings she had. The husband was able to deal with anger in a better way than before the therapy occurred (Psychology Today, 2010).
Couple or family therapy
Couple or family therapy is also important in dealing with the victims of rape. It is advisable for the members of the victims family to have their full participation in the therapy sessions. This is because some of the members are always blaming the victims, and they even end up rejecting them (Psychology Today, 2010). The parents or partners of the rape victims usually experience feelings of anger, helplessness, homicidal fantasies and frustration towards the rapist. Therefore, therapy is important for them so that they can be able to deal with these feelings. This enables the family to help the victim in the healing process. This is because once the other family members are assisted on how to deal with the trauma associated with rape they understand and accept the patient more. Additionally, those who always blame the patient for the rape occurrence stop it once they are relieved from trauma (Psychology Today, 2010).
Existential therapy
Afterwards, existential therapy principles are also important for the victim. They occur later in the therapy sessions. Their purpose is to ensure that the victims are able to overcome helplessness and find a meaning with life. Additionally, they are assisted on how to take responsibility to curb their numbness (Psychology Today, 2010).
Humanistic Approach
Humanistic approach is also another way of treating the victims of rape. It is very important to all the rape victims. Here, the patient requires a lot of understanding, support and acceptance from the therapist. The client-centered therapy helps the victim in self expression (Psychology Today, 2010).
Psychodynamic Approach
There are those instances where a rape victim has gone through another sexual assault form in her childhood. This is the only case where psychodynamic approach is helpful. However, it should not be administered at the start of the therapy sessions. It is only after the victim has dealt with the current rape ordeal that she later employs this therapy. Psychodynamic therapy involves the process of helping other women who have not only gone through rape, but also previous sexual assaults in their day to day life (Psychology Today, 2010).
Pharmacotherapy
There are cases where the depression may be too much in the rape victim. Additionally, cases of hyper- arousal may also be rampant in some female rape victims. This results to a functioning impairment. Therefore, in such cases, drugs are administered to the patients. The tranquilizers are meant to bring some relief, as the patients can get enough sleep and experience less anxiety. There are also drugs which are meant to help the patients completely forget about their rape ordeals. Ordinarily, these types of drugs are used as an adjunct to all the other forms of therapy (Mezev, 1997).
(EMDR) Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing
There have been very many reports which have revealed that EMDR has been successful in treating trauma in rape victims. However, the numbers of people trained in this technique are very few. Additionally, the procedure is not convincing to many people. This method relies on a reliance of a reflex which inhibits and opposes mechanisms of avoidance. This method ensures that the painful flashbacks of the rape ordeal are not remembered, and the traumatic memories and anxieties are swept away. All the same, this method has proved to be very effective as it lessens depression in the affected rape victims (Mezev, 1997).
Cognitive therapies in terms of behavior
There are several cognitive_behavioural programs that have been developed for the victims of rape. The behavioral programs have proved effective to some of the rape victims. The program has four main components the first one involves the victim narrating all the experiences that she went through during the attack. The second and third parts of this therapy consist of the myths of the rape ordeal, and the information on the kinds of problems that the victims are bound to experience. The last component is the introduction of coping skills to the patient (Medev, 1997).
In this program, Stress Inoculation Training (SIT) is employed. SIT is meant to treat persistent anxiety and fear. This kind of treatment is two-phased. The first one involves explanation on fear and anxiety of the victim. The second phase involves training on skills on fear prevention .The patients are encouraged to relax, where they are involved in deep breathing and self dialogue. Throughout this process, management and avoidance of anxiety, fear and depression is learnt (Medev, 1997).
Unfair treatment of the rape victims
Secondary victimization
Sexual assault has a lot of effects on the physical and psychological health of the woman. As a result, the victims of rape look for help in several community agencies which assist the victims to overcome the trauma. There are a number of these types of agencies that are very effective. However, there are cases where the rape victims have been denied help, and if any, it makes them end up being re-victimized. Additionally, not all women can access the community agencies which help the women to deal with the rape trauma. Some may fear rejection, and other may not have the necessary support from family members and friends. All this kind of treatment leads to what is known as the second rape, or the secondary victimization (Campbell Raja, 1999).
In the U.S. there was a rape legislative reform in the 1970s and the 1980s. It was an empty promise because up to date, there are very many rape victims who continue to face challenges as they search for the community resources. There are two types of rape processing. The unresponsive and responsive types. The responsive type of treatment is where all the practices performed prioritize the victim of rape. This takes place in the legal organizations. On the other hand, the unresponsive processing emphasizes more on the organizations, police, hospital and the prosecutors needs. The prosecutors and the police are always occupied on how they are going to win their cases (Campbell Raja, 1999).
Since the people involved are not genuine in helping the victims to solve their cases, the victims do not completely heal. The treatment that the rape survivors receive can be quite devastating. This type of negative treatment is referred to as negative victimization. It is defined as the process whereby there is a prolonged and compounded consequence of certain crimes it results from negative, judgmental attitudes and behaviors directed towards the victim, which results in lack of support, and even condemnation (Campbell Raja, 1999).
The social system personnel are usually blamed for the occurrence of the unresponsive treatment. Secondary victimization of the rape victims stem from three factors. To start with, the rape victims face harsh treatment from the personnel that treat them. Secondly, the rape victims suffer because of the assistance that they are denied. In 1998, research reveled that sixty seven percent of the cases of the rape victims had been dismissed, and over eighty of the cases are prosecuted against the wishes of the victims. Lastly, there are several rape victims who are not able to assess the desired services (Campbell Raja, 1999).
Victimization by the media
There are also debates on whether the newspaper editors should name the rape victims or not. The newspapers often name the women who are assaulted sexually for their own beneficial purposes. They claim that rape is just like any other crime in the world today. In 1996, a journal, popular for twenty five years, named eighteen women who were rape victims (Haws, 1996). The women were so stressed by the reports of the journal. Some of them received anonymous calls after their names were published in the journal Others continued to receive sexual harassment from those people who knew them. This affected even the women who had gone through rape at the time the journal was being published. This is because they felt that their names would also be revealed if at all they would report their cases. However, the journal defended its actions. It claimed that the rape stigmatization would decrease once their names were published (Haws, 1996).Other researchers claim that since the names of the men are published in the newspapers, the womens names should also be published. This is meant to bring equality between the men and the women as far as the cases of rape are concerned (Sarler, 2006).
Inadequate provisions of contraceptives
In 2005, there was a general public alarm concerning the provision of contraceptives for the rape victims. The Justice Department did not in any way fight for the rights of the victims. This incited a lot of controversy from the civil liberties, health organizations and womens groups in the U.S. This kind of unfair treatment has continued up to date, where the rape victims are denied drugs to help them in the prevention of pregnancies. Despite the efforts that have been made by the officials of the many feminist groups in the U.S., the female sexual assault victims are still treated unfairly (Verma, Hafiz, Nicholas, 2005).
The unfair treatment has also been used by politicians to attack their opponents in the U.S. This is because the issue of rape is taken very seriously, and any person who does not side with the rape victims becomes an enemy of the people. Therefore, any politician in the majority of the U.S. States who does not support the sexual assault victims has lower chances of being voted in (McAffee, 2010). An example of this kind of scenario is the wrangles that were present between Coakley and Scott Brown, who were both vying for a senatorial seat in Massachusetts. The Coakley campaigners were distributing fliers which accused Scott brown of failing all the rape victims, both men and women. The fliers stated that Scott had supported a legislation which declared that all rape victims should be denied emergency room help. This was so serious that they all faced each other in court. The reports of the fliers indicated that 1,736 women were raped in Massachusetts in 2008.Scott Brown wants all hospitals to turn them all away (McAffee, 2010). This is the kind of treatment that some of the victims actually go through (McAffee, 2010).
Victimization of the rape victims is not only presented in the U.S., but in the world at large. In 2009, the England Ministers observed that there were very many cases where the sexual assault victims were denied their rights. They therefore declared that they would review the way the rape victims were treated from the time they interacted with all the authorities involved (BBC, 2009). The Ministers concerns were that the rates of conviction were still very low despite the efforts that had been made to improve them. Statistics recorded that only 6.5 of the cases that were reported in 2007 and 2008 led to the arrest and conviction of the attackers. Additionally, the police officers had relaxed in this area. Several victims had reported that the police were not interested in their cases and that they were not taken seriously. There were even cases where criminals revealed that the police officers in Britain were very ineffective in dealing with crime, especially on sexual assault. The Ministers also observed that there lacked collaboration between the doctors, police and lawyers. As such, the rape cases were often delayed or characterized with a lot of flaws (BBC, 2009).
Recently, there are several high-profile women of the black race who have admitted that they have gone through molestation and rape. The author of a book known as Surviving the Silence, Charlotte Pierce-Baker was one of the black women in the US who have suffered silently. She stated that I bought into the whole mythology of rape. I felt this had sullied me or dirtied me in some way. I thought this made me less touchable (Starling, 2002).
Her case reflects the statistics that have been collected over the years, that one in five White women are raped after age 18, but for black women the ratio jumps to one in four (Starling,2002).
Conclusion
Just like all the other crimes in the U.S. and the world at large, excellence should be practiced by all the parties that are involved in dealing with rape in women. This will decrease the number of rape cases that have continued to escalate everyday.
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