Sexual trauma therapy
Immediate medical treatment is given to survivors to treat injuries, collect evidence, and prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and pregnancy.
[1] Additionally, psychological treatment methods are applied to individuals who have mental illnesses as well as those suffering from emotional aftermath resulting from traumatic events.
[8] Choosing to receive a sexual assault medical forensic exam can potentially increase the likelihood of prosecution since DNA evidence takes prominence in court.
[6][9] Immediate and selective testing is recommended for individuals who opt to receive a medical examination after the event to allow for early management and treatment.
Some forms of recommended treatments include antibiotics for bacterial infections and emergency contraception for HIV, HPV and hepatitis B.
[16] The psychodynamic psychotherapy approach utilizes the role played by the survivor's unconscious mind to alleviate their symptoms.
Psychodynamic psychotherapy allows individuals to confront their trauma, understand what it means to have gone through sexual violence, acknowledge the aftereffects, and how it results in their current behavior and thoughts.
[18] As this technique is commonly used on children and adolescents, alongside focusing on the survivor, the treatment also helps non-offending caregivers, parents, and guardians.
The therapeutic focus on caregivers is placed on assisting them in apprehending and processing the trauma, working through their emotional distress, and how to support the survivor.
[18] In a systematic review, CBT has been reported to be a practical therapeutic approach to PTSD from a range of trauma, including sexual abuse.
While other direct comparisons suggested TF-CBT was more effective, specific cases reported signs of increased anxiety and distress.
[16][19] Play therapy targets survivors of a younger age as they are yet to have the proper cognitive skills to understand their sexual trauma experience.
Play activities allow young survivors to express emotions through a familiar self-expression mechanism while learning to understand and work through sexual trauma.
[22] Another systematic review also concluded that play therapy did not have sufficient evidence to prove its effectiveness on reducing PTSD symptoms following a traumatic event in children.
As the survivor focuses on the movement, the therapist will begin asking questions to prompt any recollection of the sexual trauma event allowing for the brain's bilateral stimulation.
EMDR may prompt adverse side effects that are specific to the survivor's overall condition and day-to-day practices; therefore, suitability varies.
The six components stated will then be used to assess the survivor's situation and restructure the memory of the target image to reinforce positive cognitions.
[24] In a systematic review on psychotherapies targeting PTSD, authors concluded that both TF-CBT and EMDR showed greater improvement compared to recommended treatment.
Building skills for the behavioral areas by implementing a series of verbal and stimulation activities can help the couple work towards becoming sexually comfortable again.
