Paper Topic:

The effect of rape & marriage/divorce

Rape , Marriage and Divorce 1

RUNNING HEAD : The Psychological Impact of Rape Prior to Marriage (YOUR NAME HERE (NAME OF INSTITUTION

Rape , Marriage and Divorce 2

Abstract

This study will explore the impact of rape to the quality of married life of victims of stranger and acquaintance rapes , comparing their marriage and divorce rates , their psychological difficulties and their perception of the counseling process as a tool for recovery . Literature suggests that there is no difference in the psychological effects of rape to acquaintance and stranger rapes and that this may

cause the difficulty in relating to men in later life . The study will employ the use of a survey questionnaire in a one on one interview of rape victims The gathered data will be analyzed using situational analysis , means and standard deviations and chi square values . The study aims to fill the gap of knowledge on the long term effects of rape to the subsequent relationships of the victims

Rape , Marriage and Divorce 3

The Psychological Impact of Rape Prior to Marriage

Rape is one of the most painful and shattering event a child or a woman could ever experience . When a child or woman is forced to engage in a sexual act without consent is defined as rape . Rape is prevalent in our society , the actual numbers are not known because children and women who have been raped rarely go to the proper authorities and report it (Koss 1992 . The effects of rape progress into three stages- trauma , denial and resolution , and may differ from each victim (Campell-Ruggard Nelson ,2000 . Trauma may take the form of fear of being alone , fear of men , sexual problems and depression , feelings of anger , guilt , anxiety and despair . Then the victim may go into a period of denial as an attempt to cope with the emotional pain the victim is experiencing after this is the resolution phase which characterizes the victim 's effort to deal with her fears , to take back her life and to gain a sense of normalcy after the incident . Majority of rape victims undergo immediate acute psychological reactions after the rape . These reactions may be in the form of shock , uncontrollable crying , social withdrawal numbness , disbelief of what had happened , detachment , depression , cannot concentrate , nightmares , difficulty sleeping , self-blame , anger and difficulty maintaining a sexual relationship (Campbell-Ruggard Nelson , 2000 . A number of rape victims develop acute stress dis after rape , the dis may be characterized by the following dissociative symptoms , like a subjective sense of numbing , detachment or absence of emotional responsiveness , a reduction in awareness of his or her surroundings , derealization , depersonalization , and dissociative amnesia . While the

Rape , Marriage and Divorce 4

traumatic event is persistently reexperienced by having recurrent images , thoughts , dreams , illusions , flashback episodes or a sense of reliving the experience or distress on exposure to reminders of the traumatic event , or the marked avoidance of stimuli that arose recollections of the trauma and most importantly the clinically significant distress or impairment in social , occupational , or...

7 pages

50.0 KB

Free sing-up