Sexual Abuse Trauma

Sexual abuse is unwanted or inappropriate sexual contact, either verbal or physical, between two or more people that is intended as an act of control, power, rage, violence, and intimidation with sex as a weapon. Sexual abuse can range from inappropriate seductive behavior and sexual touching to sexual intercourse. Sexual abuse includes rape, gang rape, date rape, partner or spouse rape, and incest. In the United States alone, a woman is raped every six minutes, in three women and one in six seven men sexually abused by the time they are 18 years old. Sexual abuse is a trauma that leaves profound and lasting effects on a person’s psychological, cognitive, and emotional functioning. The impact and symptoms of trauma have become known as post-traumatic …show more content…
Healing can be, and usually is, a lifelong process. After abuse, people may find themselves experiencing chronic body pain, negative behavioral patterns that seem impossible to change, a pervasive underlying anxiety, a severely damaged self-concept, a fear of intimacy, and many other devastating results. There are three stages of recovery for an abused client establishing safety, remembrance and mourning, and reconnection. The goal of the first stage of recovery is to establish physical and psychological safety. The survivor learns how to take control of their body and to attend to their physical needs, eating well, sleeping, getting regular exercise, and having a safe place to live. As the client establishes this immediate sense of safety, they can begin to exercise initiative and take charge of his or her recovery. Recovery involves remembrance and mourning. In the presence of safety, formerly unconscious, often fragmented, disguised, and deeply buried memories become conscious so they can be recreated and transformed into a basic part of a life story. This stage of recovery can be profoundly painful and prolonged, as the person experiences the pains and horror of the trauma, as well as the grief and loss that accompany it. The last stage is reconnection, the survivor begins to look to the future and imagine a whole, intact …show more content…
How you approach touching your client is important. This client population responds best to gradual touch. Putting your hands on these clients too quickly often feels abrupt and sudden to them and can trigger fear, confusion, and other negative reactions. Also, gradual application of pressure is more likely to be accepted by their bodies. Psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and counsellors are referring an increasing number of their clients for massage and body-work. The therapist who understands abuse and the healing process will be prepared and able to respond in a helpful and knowledgeable way. Bodywork can help survivors develop a friendly and compassionate relationship with their body. Sexual or physical abuse often leaves survivors feeling disgusted, shameful, or even violent towards their body, as though their body betrayed or turned against them. Bodywork can also help survivors experience his or her body as a source of roundedness and eventually as a source of strength and even pleasure good things instead of a bad thing. Massage therapy can be helpful in the rebuilding of personal boundaries damaged by trauma and abuse. The client has the opportunity to construct new boundaries as the work together progresses. For example, by simply telling the therapist where to work and where