Rape is a personal and destructive crime. Its effects on you and your loved ones can be psychological, emotional, or physical.
Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Dr Myrielle Allen says it’s important to remember that there is not one “normal” reaction to sexual assault.
“They will have the typical symptoms of PTSD, it’s quite common, there are three clusters to it, first one will be avoidance, like the place a person wouldn’t even want to see or go near the place where it happened because it’s reliving or re experiencing the event, that’s when they have nightmares, flashbacks and it’s again unpredictable and the other will be hyper vigilance, they will always be like, you know like always on the edge’’.
Dr Allen agrees that rape isn’t something survivors get over but with counseling and a solid support system, the survivor will be able to move on in some way.
