Survivor Support
Mental Health Support for Sexual Abuse Survivors
Certain negative experiences can stay with a person for a lifetime, and sexual abuse is one of them. Sexually abused children and adults often develop unwanted physical and mental health conditions and challenging coping mechanisms to deal with their trauma. Healing is possible — and there are ways to reduce anxiety, fear, and chronic conditions.
What Is Sexual Abuse?
Sexual abuse is any unwanted and non-consensual sexual act forced upon a woman, man, or minor. The CDC reports that sexual violence impacts millions of people across the globe. About half of women and one in three men have experienced some sexual abuse in their lifetimes. There are many types of sexual abuse, including sexual assault, rape, and online sexual abuse.
Trauma presents in different ways, so it’s not uncommon for children to become adults before they discover they were sexually abused. In other cases, people are aware of it their entire lives.
How Does Sexual Abuse Affect Mental Health?
Sexual abuse is usually not limited to one experience but multiple forced interactions. Revictimization is a reality, and about half of survivors are subjected to either repeated sexual abuse or retargeted later in life. Sexual abuse wields significant power over a person’s memories, mind, and body, especially children who were abused and neglected.
Mental and Emotional Effects
- Anxiety disorders and stress, like post-traumatic stress (PTSD)
- Impulsivity
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- Dissociative disorders and flashbacks
- Substance abuse and panic attacks
- Suicidal thoughts
- Low self-esteem
Physical Effects
- Headaches and stomach pain
- Poor sleep
- Changes in appetite
- Self-harm
- Sexually transmitted diseases/infections
How Sexual Abuse Affects the Brain
Extreme fear or traumatic events like sexual abuse alter a person’s brain chemistry, which is associated with PTSD. Trauma impacts three areas of the brain that regulate emotions and respond to fear: the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. Once a person suffers a crisis, certain parts of the brain live in an overactive, hyperarousal state while others are less active.
Child sexual abuse (CSA) has been linked to significant memory problems in adulthood. It affects the hippocampus specifically. Sometimes children become adults before they recognize the signs of sexual abuse, as the brain blocks out information to process pain and trauma.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)
EMDR was initially developed for PTSD sufferers. It is delivered one to two times per week over six to twelve sessions. The patient replays traumatic memories while using rapid eye movements or tapping to help the brain reprocess these memories and heal from them.
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
CPT can help sexual abuse survivors challenge and alter irrelevant thoughts related to their trauma. An individual creates a new understanding of their experience to reduce the adverse effects on their life.
Trauma-Focused Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
DBT focuses on mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. Studies show about 79% of people showed a remission of PTSD after DBT treatment.
Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy
This therapy uses creative expression to help trauma survivors repair emotional wounds. It is designed to minimize the effects of overactivation, hyperarousal, general anxiety, and PTSD. Participants have recovered a sense of well-being, more positive interpersonal relationships, and a regained sense of safety and control.
Attachment, Regulation, and Competency (ARC)
ARC is a program designed for children and adolescents who have endured complex trauma. It addresses the damage sexual abuse can do to people’s attachment patterns, self-regulation, and basic developmental skills.
The Cost of Treatment
While there are therapy modules available for free or low cost, they often come with long waiting lists. For those needing around-the-clock support, an in-patient mental health facility can cost thousands of dollars. Treatment shouldn’t have to be expensive — and you shouldn’t have to pay this cost when you’re already paying the emotional cost of another’s transgressions. To access the financial resources needed for care, many survivors take their abuser to civil court.
Support and Crisis Lines for Sex Abuse Survivors
- RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network): 24/7 — 1-800-656-4673 or rainn.org
- SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused By Priests): 1-877-SNAP-HEALS (1-877-762-7432)
- National Human Trafficking Hotline: 1-888-373-7888 / Text: 233733
- U.S. SAMHSA: 1-800-662-HELP
- National Sexual Violence Resource Center: nsvrc.org
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