2022 Semester 01
L.Smith
(67337163)
,Contents
1. THEME 1 - Definitions .............................................................................................................................................. 2
2. THEME 2 - Sexuality ................................................................................................................................................. 6
3. THEME 3 – Theoretical Approaches ......................................................................................................................10
4. THEME 4 – Sexual Abuse (Children) ......................................................................................................................17
5. THEME 5 – The Adult Survivor ...............................................................................................................................27
6. THEME 6 – The Healing Process (Adults)...............................................................................................................30
7. THEME 7 – Rape .....................................................................................................................................................33
8. THEME 8 – Male Rape ............................................................................................................................................39
9. THEME 9 – Fighting Sexual Abuse (Multifaceted) .................................................................................................43
GLOSSARY OF TERMS & ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................................47
SUMMARY MGG2602 – Sexual Trauma [L.Smith 67337163] Page 1
,1. THEME 1 - Definitions
Page
12 1.1 Stress, crisis & trauma
Stress o The strain we feel at different times in our lives or in different situations
o Present in crises as well as trauma
o External forces impinging on the individual (eg. High unemployment and crime rates)
o Psychological and physiological reactions experienced by the individual (eg. Racing heart, sweating
palms, negative self-talk)
o May be described as our nerves, anxiety, panic, tension and pressure
o It the spark that pushes us to challenge the situations we find ourselves in and to find new ways of
coping
o Extent depends on the event + the individual’s personality and coping ability
Crisis o A normal reaction that an individual has to a difficult experience that they have not had to face
before
o One might feel confused, overwhelmed and unable to cope
o May be an external event (eg. Work-related transfer, losing money as a result of a poor
investment)
o May be an internal event caused by development (eg. A young woman adjusting to her new role
as a wife)
o Usually a turning point - opportunity for the individual to discover and use inner strengths to adjust
to a changing world, find relevant supportive resources and learn new skills that can be generalised
to resolve future crises
o Somewhat more serious and takes longer to resolve than stress
Trauma definitions o Situations “in which the victims are rendered powerless and great danger is involved” (Matsakis
1996:16) AND it is a profound deviation from normal life experience (Recovery Organisation)
o It is sudden, overwhelming and unanticipated
o Them
Trauma events o Trauma- inducing situation suggests a threat of injury or death to the person or others around
13 o Extraordinary, not because they occur rarely, but rather because they overwhelm the ordinary
human adaptions to life” (Herman 2001:33)
o Generally, involve threats to life or bodily integrity, or a close personal encounter with violence
and death
o Defy the individual’s need for dignity, fair play, security, self-control and belonging
o Induces feeling of helplessness and terror that the victims are left to deal with
Trauma effects o Overtaxes a human being’s ability to cope because of its intensity
o May be damaging to mental health
o Persistent expectation of danger, an imprint of the traumatic event that does not want to fade and
a numbing response of giving up, which becomes generalised
o Major influence on the individual’s normal ways of thinking and feeling, and so previous coping
mechanisms that were used to handle stress in the past are no longer effective or functional
o May have an impact on the person’s personhood, individuality and humanity
Trauma types o Disaster: caused by nature (floods, fire, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.)
o Atrocity: caused by humans (war, terrorism, bus disasters and civil unrest)
o Unintentional: caused by everyday violence / accidents (motor vehicle accidents and culpable
homicide)
o Intentional: caused by forms of victimisation involving a threat to life, health (psychological and
physical) and limb (physical assault, sexual assault, domestic violence and hijacking)
14 Direct / Indirect o Traumatic event may affect witnesses and those who have direct contact with the direct victim,
which is termed indirect traumatisation (Lewis, 1999)
o The symptoms experienced by victims of indirect trauma can be identical to those experienced by
victims of direct trauma
o Other indirect victims include second generation trauma survivors
SUMMARY MGG2602 – Sexual Trauma [L.Smith 67337163] Page 2
, Single / Multiple o Trauma may be the result of a single event, such as an armed robbery or the loss of a limb through
cancer, or it may involve multiple traumas, like when someone was hijacked more than once
Continuous / o Continuous: situations where people are exposed to ongoing trauma (tend to develop a numbing
Complex response and may seem lethargic, even depressed)
15 o Complex: situations in which victims experience prolonged, repeated traumatic events (usually a
relationship between victim & offender)
16 1.2 Sexual Trauma
Notion of change o Definitions are influenced by age, culture, socioeconomic status, education, peer group attitudes
toward gender roles and perceptions of a community’s general vulnerability to crime
o Definition & impact can only be viewed against every individual’s perception of life at a particular
point in time
17 Sexual Trauma o “[A]ny trauma of a sexual nature. A disturbing or anxiety producing event relating to sex that has
Definition a lasting effect on sexual adjustment” (penguin dictionary of psychology)
Often involves not just a single event, but a series of events
Affects more than a person’s sexual adjustment; it wounds the person’s soul, affects many
areas of his or her social functioning and creates havoc with his or her health
o “any trauma of a sexual nature”
Creates emotional turmoil for the survivor
May impair the trauma survivor’s functioning in certain areas, such as self-esteem,
relationships with other people and sexuality
May only manifest much later, when the survivor develops an understanding of the
wrongness of the activities he or she participated in, given that his or her participation may
even have been passive
19 Rape & Child Sexual o Most common forms of sexual trauma
Abuse
20 Female Genital o The partial or complete removal of any part of the genitals, and includes circumcision of female
Mutilation children (Children’s Act 38 of 2005)
21 1.3 Impact of Trauma
o Trauma is a blend of different behaviours, feelings and physical responses
o Stereotyping survivors and looking for set responses is harmful
o Symptoms should always be seen as normal responses to an abnormal situation
o Variables: age, duration of the traumatic episode, extent of effective intervention, history of earlier life crises, psychological
history, perspective on trauma, etc.
22 1.4 The Body’s Response to Abnormal Amounts of Stress
o Threat arouses the sympathetic nervous system, causing the person in danger to feel an adrenalin rush and to go into a
state of alert; this evokes intense feelings of fear and anger
o The person’s self-defence system becomes confused and disorganised, resulting in the person having prolonged changes in
physical arousal, emotion, cognition and memory
o The increase in arousal from the system being in a permanent alert state affects sleep and wakeful times
Responses to stress: Good Bad
Fight Gathering information necessary to take action Causes an increase of the experience of negative
and provide an opportunity for affective release effects to a potentially dangerous level
(heightened anxiety & non-productive worry)
Flight Protects the individual from becoming Avoidance may result in the blocking out of
emotionally overwhelmed and dysfunctional information needed to lead to productive action
and can cause emotional numbness
22 1.5 The Shattering of Fundamental Assumptions
Assumptions o Each person’s preconscious conceptual system that automatically structures a person’s
experiences and directs his or her behaviour’
o Are usually positive and reassuring and are used to plan for and act upon situations that they are
called to deal with
o Victims are forced to reconsider (i) that they are personally invulnerable, (ii) That the world is
orderly & meaningful and (iii) that they are good & strong people (Jannof-Bulman, 1992)
SUMMARY MGG2602 – Sexual Trauma [L.Smith 67337163] Page 3
