Effects and aftermath of rape
is a traumatic experience that affects the victim in a physical, psychological, and sociological way. Even though the effects and aftermath of rape differ among victims, individuals tend to suffer from similar issues found within these three categories. Long-term reactions may involve the development of coping mechanisms that will either benefit the victim, such as social support, or inhibit their recovery. Seeking support and professional resources may assist the victim in numerous ways.
Physical impact
Gynecological
Common effects experienced by rape victims include:- Vaginal or anal bleeding or infection
- Hypoactive sexual desire disorder
- Vaginitis or vaginal inflammation
- Dyspareunia – painful sexual intercourse
- Vaginismus – a condition affecting someone with a vagina and ability to engage in any form of vaginal penetration
- Chronic pelvic pain
- Urinary tract infections
- Pregnancy
- HIV/AIDS
Pregnancy
- Pregnancy may result from rape. The rate varies between settings and depends particularly on the extent to which non-barrier contraceptives are being used.
- In 1982, Fertility and Sterility, the journal of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, reported that the risk of pregnancy from a rape is the same as the risk of pregnancy from a consensual sexual encounter, 2–4%.
- A 1996 longitudinal study in the United States of over 4000 women followed for three years found that the national rape related pregnancy rate was 5.0% per rape among victims aged 12–45 years, producing over 32,000 pregnancies nationally among women from rape each year.
- In 1991, a study in a maternity hospital in Lima found that 90% of new mothers aged 12–16 had become pregnant from being raped, the majority by their father, stepfather or other close relative. An organization for teenage mothers in Costa Rica reported that 95% of its clients under the age of 15 had been victims of incest.
- A study of adolescents in Ethiopia found that among those who reported being raped, 17% became pregnant after the rape, a figure which is similar to the 15–18% reported by rape crisis centers in Mexico.
- Experience of coerced sex at an early age reduces a woman's ability to see her sexuality as something over which she has control. As a result, it is less likely that an adolescent girl who has been forced into sex will use condoms or other forms of contraception, increasing the likelihood that she will become pregnant.
- A study of factors associated with teenage pregnancy in Cape Town, South Africa, found that forced sexual initiation was the third most strongly related factor, after frequency of intercourse and use of modern contraceptives. Forced sex can also result in unintended pregnancy among adult women. In India, a study of married men revealed that men who admitted forcing sex on their wives were 2.6 times more likely to have caused an unintended pregnancy than those who did not admit to such behavior.
- Any pregnancy resulting from an encounter with a stranger carries a higher risk of pre-eclampsia, the condition in which hypertension arises in pregnancy in association with significant amounts of protein in the urine. Conversely, repeated exposure to the same partner's semen reduces the risk, through induction of paternal tolerance.
Sexually transmitted diseases
Psychological impact
Most rape survivors experience a stronger psychological impact in the initial period after their assault; however, many survivors may experience long-lasting psychological harm.Immediate effect
Survivors of rape may often have anxiety and fear directly following their attack. According to a study on the reactions after rape by the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 96 percent of women said they were scared, shaking, or trembling a few hours after their attack. After even more time passed, the previous symptoms decreased while the levels of depression, exhaustion, and restlessness increased.Anxiety
After an attack, rape survivors experience heightened anxiety and fear. According to Dean G. Kilpatrick, a distinguished psychologist, survivors of rape have high levels of anxiety and phobia-related anxiety. This includes and is not limited to the following:- Feelings of dread
- Feeling nervous
- Feeling tense or uneasy
- Having panic attacks
- Having an irrational response to certain stimuli
- Having avoidance and/or escape response.
Hypersexuality
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Many survivors of rape have post-traumatic stress disorder. The National Victim Center and the Crime Victim's Research and Treatment Center released a report that found 31% of women who were raped develop PTSD at some point in their lives following their attack. The same study estimated 3.8 million American women would have rape-related PTSD, and 1.3 million women have rape-induced PTSD.Depression
A study found that women who were raped were more depressed than women who were not. The study measured the level of depression using the Beck Depression Inventory test, and concluded that forty-five percent of the women assessed in the study were moderately or severely depressed.Self-blame
is among the most common of both short- and long-term effects and functions as an avoidance coping skill that inhibits the healing process and can often be remedied by a cognitive therapy technique known as cognitive restructuring.There are two main types of self-blame: behavioral self-blame and characterological self-blame. Survivors who experience behavioral self-blame feel that they should have done something differently, and therefore feel at fault. Survivors who experience characterological self-blame feel there is something inherently wrong with them which has caused them to deserve to be assaulted.
A leading researcher on the psychological causes and effects of shame, June Tangney, lists five ways shame can be destructive:
- lack of motivation to seek care;
- lack of empathy;
- isolation;
- anger;
- aggression.
In addition, shame is connected to psychological problems – such as eating disorders, substance abuse, anxiety, depression, and other mental disorders as well as problematic moral behavior. In one study over several years, shame-prone children were also prone to substance abuse, earlier sexual activity, less safe sexual activity, and involvement with the criminal justice system.
Behavioral self-blame is associated with feelings of guilt within the survivor. While the belief that one had control during the assault is associated with greater psychological distress, the belief that one has more control during the recovery process is associated with less distress, less withdrawal, and more cognitive reprocessing. This need for control stems from the just-world belief, which implies that people get what they deserve and the world has a certain order of things that individuals are able to control. This control reassures them that this event will not happen again.
Counseling responses found helpful in reducing self-blame are supportive responses, psychoeducational responses and those responses addressing the issue of blame. A helpful type of therapy for self-blame is cognitive restructuring or cognitive-behavioral therapy. Cognitive reprocessing is the process of taking the facts and forming a logical conclusion from them that is less influenced by shame or guilt. Most rape survivors cannot be reassured enough that what happened to them is "not their fault." This helps them fight through shame and feel safe, secure, and grieve in a healthy way. In most cases, a length of time, and often therapy, is necessary to allow the survivor and people close to the survivor to process and heal.