Rape & PTSD

In class today, one of the interesting topics brought up was the question: what can rape be compared to in regards to PTSD? We talked about the fact that PTSD is caused by exposure to severe trauma, sometimes even if that trauma is second-hand, but for this instance I am talking about first-hand trauma. When we think of PTSD, the first large group of people we think about are war survivors. Seeing war is something that can be severely traumatizing because of what you see first-hand or what you experience physically first-hand. In the case of a rape, the victim experiences first-hand physical experience as well as the trauma for visually remembering what happened to them, something that can be played over and over in their heads.

Another aspect of rape cases that was talked about in class was the idea of *tonic immobility. My thoughts on this topic are that tonic immobility can cause victims to not make loud enough noises that could possibly help them. This tonic immobility is proof that the experience they are going through is extremely traumatic, traumatic enough to paralyze the victim and cause them the inability to function naturally.




*Tonic immobility is a natural state of paralysis in which animals enter as a reaction to extreme fear.