By Hannah Sheridan and Holden Brimhall Trauma During Childhood Psychological Impact on Victims of Sexual Assault Blamed Depressed Anxious Violated Reluctanthesitant to seek help How the Brain is Affected ID: 589822
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Slide1
The Neurobiology of Trauma
By Hannah Sheridan and Holden
Brimhall
Slide2Slide3
Trauma During Childhood Slide4Slide5Slide6Slide7Slide8Slide9
Psychological Impact on Victims of Sexual Assault
Blamed
Depressed
Anxious
Violated
Reluctant/hesitant to seek helpSlide10
How the Brain is Affected
Hypothalamus
Prefrontal Cortex
Amygdala
HippocampusSlide11
Post-it Note AnalogySlide12
What Happens During a Sexual Assault
Cathecholamines
Increase
Impairs Rational Thought
Opioids Increase Causes Flat Affect
Corticosteroids Increase Reduces Energy
HPA Axis
Hypothalamus Pituitary Adrenal Gland Slide13
Tonic Immobility
“Rape-induced Paralysis”
Automatic/uncontrollable response in extremely fearful situations
Increased breathing, eye closure, paralysis
12-50% of victims experience tonic immobility
Tonic immobility is more common in victims who have experienced sexual assault before. Slide14
What Happens During a Sexual Assault
Increased stress hormones
impaired functioning in hippocampus memories fragmented MEMORY RECALL CAN BE SLOW AND DIFFICULT.
EVENTS OF THE ASSAULT CAN STILL BE RECALLED ACCURATELY. Slide15
Memory Consolidation
It is a slow, fragmented process. Slide16
How to Treat Victims
Be Patient.
Be Kind.
Listen to them.
Do not be accusatory.
Show that you care.
Other ideas???Slide17
What to Remember
Neurobiological changes can lead to flat affect or “strange” emotions or emotional swings.
When victims have a wide range of emotions, it is okay. It is normal, and you can let the victim know that.
Neurobiological changes can make memory consolidation and recall difficult.
Their story may come out fragmented. The content of the memory is likely accurate. It will just take some time for it to come together.
Tonic immobility is often frightening to victims. Victims sometimes blame themselves for what happened because of this. The reactions of friends, family and service providers are often hurtful to the victim. It is helpful to explain what TI is and to normalize it. Slide18
References
Rebecca Campbell’s presentation:
The Neurobiology of Sexual Assault.
Retrieved from:
http://nij.gov/multimedia/presenter/presenter-campbell/pages/welcome.aspx