InsaneJournal

Day 2
So, the only way to actually start, is well, to start.

This will also be good review for me prior to doing the case studies.



In this session, we started with the dynamics of sexual victimization; the nature of the assault, the assailant's motivational style, things of the sort.  We didn't spend a huge amount of time on the motivational styles because, well, we're about helping the victim not the perpetrator.  The major factor here that of the 7 major 'types' of rapist, the one that most people think of and gets the most press, the Serial Rapist, is really the most rare.  This type gets the press but really, is a very, very small percentage of the perpetrators.  We also of course hit hard the fact that rape is a crime about power, not about sex.  There were a lot of stats here that we didn't spend a lot of time on because again, we're the victim's advocate and they really aren't going to be interested in 76% of the time this, 14 % of the time that, etc.

The area we did focus on here was the Psychological Impact of Sexual Victimization.  There are 3 major phases, the Acute Crisis, the Denial and the Reorganization/Integration.  The acute crisis is exactly what it says.  The crisis in the immediate reaction window which, while the term is immediate it can really last for days or even a few weeks.  Lots of symptoms and this is frequently when we get the calls.  In denial, well, that kinda says it all.  The thing here is that this is generally the time when PTSD develops.  They want to dismiss and/or 'master' the event.  The part I learned here is that a victim can alternate between crisis and denial.  The last phase is the longest and the length of time depends on the support systems available.  That's part of where we as an organization come in.  This a weak support system a victim may never leave this phase, the stronger the support system, the faster and healthier the victim will recover.  I know the later sounds obvious but to most it is not, especially when an event of this sort has just happened to them.

We covered PTSD, Eating Disorders, Self Harm and Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly Multiple Personality Disorder) as coping mechanisms.  In the training, my classmates consisted of 1 counselor and two masters level Psych majors.  They pointed out that PTSD can actually mimic anything in the DSM IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders) which is one of the reasons it is so hard to detect.  We also talked about how many in the field today dismiss DID as an actual disorder.

At this point, we were all still a little uncomfortable with each other since it was just the second session.