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The Reorganization/
Stabilization Phase
During this phase of RTS, the survivor reorganizes herself/himself
and their life after the sexual assault. Basically, they learn
to cope again. Several factors influence the survivor’s
ability to reorganize their life after the sexual assault:
Personality: What coping mechanisms
does a person already possess? How successfully have they
coped with stress and trauma in the past?
Support System: Does she/he have
a strong system of friends and family for emotional support?
Does the survivor truly feel they can go to them for support?
Is a survivor treated with empathy?
Existing Life Problems: Does this
person have a drinking or drug problem? Are they experiencing
a divorce or other break-up? Do they have emotional or psychological
problems? Even if the survivor had these life problems under
control prior to the assault, the trauma of the assault may
reactivate them.
Prior Sexual Victimization: Was
the survivor assaulted previously? If so, recovery may be
much more difficult.
Emotional Concerns
Of The Reorganization/ Stabilization Phase
The concerns the survivor has may fall into any of four groups:
- Social Concerns: The survivor may experience some
difficulty returning to pre-assault social patterns. She/he
may feel an increased distrust toward others in general
and, with male rapists involved, an increased suspicion
of men in particular. A survivor may have a shorter temper,
or easily break into tears. Some reactions may be the result
of a specific component of the assault. For example, if
the survivor was assaulted while alone, she/he may withdraw
socially and rely on a few significant others for companionship
and support. The survivor’s social patterns after
the assault may depend less upon the conditions of the assault
and more upon the survivor’s personality. Many survivors
feel a strong need to “get away.” A survivor
may visit parents. They may move, especially if assaulted
at home. Survivors may change jobs or leave school. All
these actions are “normal” in that they represent
what the survivor needs to do in order to regain control
over their life.
- Psychological Concerns: Denial of the effects of
the assault, or of the assault itself, is a common reaction
during the reorganization/ stabilization phase. Denial may
be a component of the survivor’s recovery, since it
gives a person space to catch their breath before beginning
the stressful task of processing and resolving the trauma.
Denial that lasts longer than a few hours or days, however,
is detrimental to recovery.
Depression, guilt, and a general loss of self-esteem are
all common psychological reactions. These symptoms suggest
that a survivor has turned their anger inward, and that
they have unresolved fears. Remind a survivor that they
are in no way responsible for the assault and that nothing
they did could ever justify the violence they have experienced.
Encourage survivors to direct these negative feelings toward
the assailant and away from his or herself.
The survivor may experience fearful reactions to stimuli
that remind them of the assault or the assailant. Phobic
reactions are extreme manifestations of anxiety. For example,
if the survivor was assaulted outdoors, they may be afraid
to leave the house. If the assailant had alcohol on his
breath, this odor may remind a survivor of the assault and
bring on nausea. Survivors may experience a general paranoia,
or panic attacks.
- Sexual Concerns: The assault may disrupt the sexual
life of the survivor because of sex, which usually involves
pleasure, was instead used as a weapon to humiliate, control
and punish. It will probably take some time for the survivor
to disassociate the sexual assault from consensual sex.
Acts the assailant forced a survivor to do that they were
not used to doing will probably cause particular difficulty.
Survivors may experience physical pain during sex, having
difficulty relaxing, or be generally indifferent to sex.
At the other extreme, some survivors may desire sex all
the time. Most likely, a person’s behavior will fall
between these two extremes.
If the survivor was a virgin at the time of the assault,
she/he may have a heightened fear of a first consensual
encounter.
The survivor may be concerned about their partner’s
reaction to them. Survivors may wonder if a partner will
feel differently toward them. Because of the range of stresses
the survivor experiences after an assault, consensual sexual
relationships and other friendships can be placed under
heavy strain. Current statistics indicate that about half
of all survivors lose their love relationships within a
year of sexual assault.
- Physical Concerns: The survivor may report continuing
gynecological/ genital problems. If a survivor was physically
beaten, the survivor may continue to experience pain. Sexually
transmitted diseases are a further concern, as well as pregnancy.
Nightmares may also continue. If they continue in a manner
that makes a person lose sleep or fills their waking hours,
they might want to consider counseling.
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