Sexual assault is any form of non-consensual sexual contact and is often characterized by sexual violence. Most sexual assault incidences are never reported to the relevant authorities. The victims suffer in silence as they are afraid of the stigma associated with sexual abuse. This may result in psychological problems to the victims. Some of the psychological effects of sexual assault include;
Depression and Anxiety
Sexual abuse is often a difficult situation to deal with. This may be made worse by the fact that most victims do not seek professional help to deal with the situation. The outcome is feelings of despair and hopelessness and loss of self-esteem. Such feelings may result in more serious issues such as suicide if they are long-lasting. Also, the victims live in severe anxiety and fear that the assault may happen again. The victims may sometimes develop a phobia of people with similar physical characteristics of their assaulters. All these affect the mental health of the individuals and may result in more complex psychological issues.
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Posttraumatic Stress
The sexual assault survivors may experience unpleasant memories of the abuse in the form of flashbacks. This may cause the victims to lose track of their environment and may develop a fear of their surroundings. Such individuals are afraid of being left alone without a trusted person nearby. The fear of abandonment characterizes these individuals due to this psychological effect of the assault.
Attachment Issues and Addiction
Most of the victims who were sexually assaulted in their childhood find it hard to have healthy relationships when they are adults. They are unable to form emotional attachments with other people, and this affects their adult life. The victims may turn to use of drugs to help them ease the emotional pain of abuse and often this results to addiction.
Sexual assault leaves psychological scars that are a constant reminder to the victims of the abuse. Opening up about the assault may help victims in the healing process of the victims since it gives the ground for counseling and professional help.
