- Signs that may indicate sexual abuse
- How to deal with sexual abuse
- Physical and emotional consequences of the violation
- How to deal with trauma caused by rape
- Remedies to calm and sleep better
- Techniques to increase self-esteem
- What leads to sexual abuse
Sexual abuse occurs when a person sexually caresses another without his consent or compels him to have sex with him using emotional means and or physical aggression. During the act the aggressor can insert his sexual organ, fingers or other objects into the intimate area without the victim's consent. Other characteristics of sexual abuse are when the victim:
- They do not have the ability to perceive the act as an aggression, because they are children and are not old enough to understand what is happening or because they have a physical disability or mental illness; They are drunk or under the use of drugs that make the victim find yourself in your right mind and can say to stop.
Other forms of sexual abuse are when one person forces another to stroke his genitals or witness conversations with sexual content, watch sexual acts or obscene shows, film or take pictures of the naked victim to show to others.
The main victims of these abuses are women but homosexuals, adolescents and children are also frequent victims of this type of crime.
Signs that may indicate sexual abuse
The victim who was apparently sexually assaulted may not show any physical signs, however, the vast majority have the following signs and symptoms:
- Change in behavior as occurs when the person was very outgoing, and becomes very shy; Fleeing social contact and prefer to be alone; Easy crying, sadness, loneliness, anguish and anxiety; When the victim is a child she can even get sick or escape contact with others; swelling, redness, laceration or fissures in the private parts; rupture of the hymen, in girls and women who were still virgins; loss of urine and stool control due to emotional factors or laxity of the muscles in this region due to rape; itching, pain or vaginal or anal discharge; purple marks on the body and also on the private parts; sexually transmitted diseases.
In addition, girls or women can become pregnant, in which case it is possible to resort to legal abortion, as long as a police report proving sexual abuse is made.
To prove abuse and the right to abortion, the victim must go to the police and tell what happened. As a rule, a woman should carefully look at the victim's body for signs of aggression, rape, and a specific examination is needed to identify the presence of secretions or sperm from the aggressor in the victim's body.
It is better that the victim does not bathe and wash the intimate area before going to the police station so that secretions, hair, hair or traces of nails that can serve as evidence to find and incriminate the aggressor are not lost.
How to deal with sexual abuse
In order to deal with the harmful consequences caused by sexual abuse, the rape victim must be supported by the closest people he trusts, such as family, family or friends, to recover emotionally and within 48 hours he must go to the police station to register the crime. complaint of what happened. Following this step is very important so that the abuser can be found and tried, preventing the abuse from happening to the same person or to others.
Initially, the violated person must be observed by a doctor to carry out tests that can identify injuries, STDs or possible pregnancy. It may be necessary to use medicines to treat these situations and also soothing and antidepressants that can keep the victim calm so that he can recover.
In addition, the emotional trauma caused by the abuse must be treated with the help of a psychologist or psychiatrist because the act leaves many roots of distrust, bitterness and other consequences that damage the person's life in every way.
Physical and emotional consequences of the violation
The victim always feels guilty about the rape and it is common to have feelings like 'Why did I go out with him?' or 'Why did I flirt with that person or let him get close?' However, although society and the victim themselves feel guilty, it is not their fault, but the aggressor's.
After the act, the victim may have deep marks, with frequent and repetitive nightmares, low self-esteem, fears, phobias, distrust, difficulty in relating to other people, difficulty in eating with disorders such as anorexia or bulimia, greater tendency to use of drugs to escape reality and not go through suffering, suicide attempts, hyperactivity, aggression, low school performance, compulsive masturbation that can even hurt the genitals, antisocial behavior, hypochondria, depression, difficulty expressing feelings and to relate to parents, siblings, children and friends.
How to deal with trauma caused by rape
The victim must be supported by family and friends and must not attend school or work, being away from these tasks until he or she has recovered physically and emotionally.
In the first phase of recovery, with the help of a psychologist, the victim must be encouraged to recognize his feelings and the consequences of the violation, which can be living with AIDS or an unwanted pregnancy, for example.
Two other strategies for dealing with the consequences of a sexual violation are:
Remedies to calm and sleep better
The use of tranquilizers and antidepressants such as Alprazolam and Fluoxetine, may be indicated by the doctor or psychiatrist to be used for a few months so that the person is calm and can sleep with restful sleep. These remedies can be used for long periods until the person feels better and keeps emotions in check even without them.
See natural solutions to calm down in 7 tips to control anxiety and nervousness.
Techniques to increase self-esteem
The psychologist may indicate the use of certain techniques, such as seeing and talking to the mirror, saying compliments and words of affirmation and support so that this helps to overcome the trauma. In addition, other techniques can be used to increase self-esteem and psychotherapeutic treatments so that the victim can fully recover, although this is a lengthy process that can take decades to achieve.
What leads to sexual abuse
It can be difficult to try to understand what happens in the abuser's mind, but sexual abuse can be caused by a psychological outbreak and other factors such as:
- Trauma or injury in the anterior region of the brain, an area that controls sexual impulses; Use of drugs that damage the brain and touch sexual and aggressive impulses, in addition to impeding the ability to make morally correct decisions; Mental illnesses that cause the aggressor do not see the act as an abuse, nor feel guilty for the acts committed; having already been a victim of sexual abuse throughout life and having a confused sex life, far from normal.
However, it must be emphasized that none of these factors justify such aggression and every aggressor must be penalized.
In Brazil, the aggressor can be arrested if it is proven that he is the perpetrator of the abuse, but in other countries and cultures the penalties vary from stoning, castration and death. Currently, there are bills that try to increase the penalty for aggressors, increasing prison time and also the implementation of chemical castration, which consists of the use of drugs that dramatically decrease testosterone, preventing erection, which makes the sexual act impossible for a period of up to 15 years.
