Why is rape, a one time thing, so traumatic?

Honestly, some of the things I tell MDs and PhDs makes their chins drop. Why is a one time thing so bleepin traumatic?

I just don't get it.
I thought I had seen it all
Guess not

Other forms of assault can be very traumatic too, even if they happen only once. Are you talking about what you tell your docotrs/therapists? You are entitled to your own opinions. Maybe this is how you vent your emotions.

jasmin wrote:Other forms of assault can be very traumatic too, even if they happen only once. Are you talking about what you tell your docotrs/therapists? You are entitled to your own opinions. Maybe this is how you vent your emotions.

its how I vent when I'm drunk. I dont even remember posting it LOL

It's ok, you can vent here

It's ok, you can vent here

Penetration. It's the ultimate breach of boundary between the self and the outside world.

When soldiers want to terrorize a population, they rape. The rape lets others know who's the boss. And when the raped victims have children, the children carry the seed of the rapists. So no one forgets who's the boss.

Sodomy or oral sex don't give rise to pregnancy but they're penetrations nonetheless. It's a very big deal in terms of 'selfhood'.

I think too that rape takes the 'dirt' and 'filth' from the outside and makes you vulnerable to that dirt 'inside' yourself. Rape violates that 'outside-inside' boundary.

Don't be surprised that it's a single rape that traumatizes. It makes sense. We've seen the same thing with shell shock in military men. We've seen the same thing when 9-11 happened and traumatized New Yorkers. Some of us even in Ontario are still feeling that trauma. We've also seen traumatization of animals that are abused. If it can happen in a single trial with other forms of trauma, we shouldn't be surprised that it happens with rape. It's an act of violence too.

I had a nice Margeurita last weekend with my wife. Mmm.

BTW, just for your own edification, did you know that during WWI and WWII they'd send soldiers into battle very often with alcohol in their systems? And during Vietnam the soldiers would smoke grass and if possible, they'd have consumed alcohol too? Once they got back from the wars, many of them drank more than was healthy.

There's something about numbing our brains with drugs and alcohol that follows on the heels of trauma.

I do it. I try not to do it too often. But it 'fits' with the trauma. A very human reaction.

I think its the body trying to protect us from experiencing more danger. Trauma memories are stored in an entirely different part of the brain from other memories. They are stored in the non-verbal part of the brain, and so often the best way to access and release them is through non-verbal, motor activities. One theory about why trauma memories are stored elsewhere is that it has a faster reaction time in the body, so when the brain senses that some element is repeating itself (triggers), it launches into a protective response. .. I learned this through a trauma specialist who did a workshop in our area. I'm a survivor and an advocate, and so both personally and in work, I've found this same question really fascinating, and also the one that haunts me because it is so unjust. Anyway, the man's name is William Steele and he is with TLC in Detroit, Michigan. Another person who amazes me in their understanding of how trauma affects the brain and can be released non-verbally is (yikes I can't recall, but I can find it if someone wants it) The important thing to know is that even seemignly simply sandtray activities and figurines can be super effective at releasing PTSD. There are some articles on line about success in treating vets with PTSD through sand trya work. ...I didn't believe it til someone sent me to a workshop, and we had to try it out ourselves. I was totally surprised; all this stuff got released from my rape many years earlier! I still have some triggers, but most of them and the mild PTSD I still coped with, went away once I did this non-verbal work. Anyway, it's my belief that trauma is the body's natural defense system. PTSD, in my opinion, is a normal reaction to something completely abnormal happening and the brain is going into overdrive to monitor enough to prevent. head off at the pass, any future pain or injury that resembles what happened. It helped me forgive myself for havign PTSD, too, to realize it. Little kids get it from medical treatments sometimes. PTSD can form long after the 1st trauma happens. For example, if a person was raped, and then 10 years later goes through something that may seem less traumatic her, the two events can link up and PTSD happens then, even if it didn't originally. So that is something to be aware of, too. evidentally its quite common. Which is why people may not understand their friend's seemingly over the top reaction to something painful later on, it may actually be related to the rape years earlier. Trauma is fascinating, and awful. We feel what we feel. Even this PTSD specialist I met once developed PTSD (in a similar way I just described) and couldn't talk himself out of it. He went to therapy. It's Ok to go back to therapy if you need it, years later. It doesn't mean you've lost. You're just continuing to win! -Wow, I rambled. Off subject, but I hope it helps!

In follow up to what I just wrote... here's a simpler analogy for PTSD. It's like the body's immune system. Trauma responses are like our immune system responding to some pathogen. If the body senses that there is the intrusion or threat to the body like a germ or virus, the immune system responds with white blood cells , fever, etc. Triggers and other traumatic responses are almost like the brain's immune response to threatening information that is reminiscent of prior harm (like smells, like a look in someone's eye, or uncomfortable touch, or a similar situational dynamic). PTSD is almost like an overly-active immune system. Hmmm.

I'll try answering your question the best way i can. I have been raped a number of times though, and was traumatized before I was raped; hence as a victim I do not even know the whole answer. Some of the reasons as to why I was so traumatized by rape include, it was so unexpected, it was so against my will, it was so unpleasant, it was so invasive of my privacy.

Canarygirl wrote:I think its the body trying to protect us from experiencing more danger. Trauma memories are stored in an entirely different part of the brain from other memories. They are stored in the non-verbal part of the brain, and so often the best way to access and release them is through non-verbal, motor activities. One theory about why trauma memories are stored elsewhere is that it has a faster reaction time in the body, so when the brain senses that some element is repeating itself (triggers), it launches into a protective response. .. I learned this through a trauma specialist who did a workshop in our area. I'm a survivor and an advocate, and so both personally and in work, I've found this same question really fascinating, and also the one that haunts me because it is so unjust. Anyway, the man's name is William Steele and he is with TLC in Detroit, Michigan. Another person who amazes me in their understanding of how trauma affects the brain and can be released non-verbally is (yikes I can't recall, but I can find it if someone wants it) The important thing to know is that even seemignly simply sandtray activities and figurines can be super effective at releasing PTSD. There are some articles on line about success in treating vets with PTSD through sand trya work. ...I didn't believe it til someone sent me to a workshop, and we had to try it out ourselves. I was totally surprised; all this stuff got released from my rape many years earlier! I still have some triggers, but most of them and the mild PTSD I still coped with, went away once I did this non-verbal work. Anyway, it's my belief that trauma is the body's natural defense system. PTSD, in my opinion, is a normal reaction to something completely abnormal happening and the brain is going into overdrive to monitor enough to prevent. head off at the pass, any future pain or injury that resembles what happened. It helped me forgive myself for havign PTSD, too, to realize it. Little kids get it from medical treatments sometimes. PTSD can form long after the 1st trauma happens. For example, if a person was raped, and then 10 years later goes through something that may seem less traumatic her, the two events can link up and PTSD happens then, even if it didn't originally. So that is something to be aware of, too. evidentally its quite common. Which is why people may not understand their friend's seemingly over the top reaction to something painful later on, it may actually be related to the rape years earlier. Trauma is fascinating, and awful. We feel what we feel. Even this PTSD specialist I met once developed PTSD (in a similar way I just described) and couldn't talk himself out of it. He went to therapy. It's Ok to go back to therapy if you need it, years later. It doesn't mean you've lost. You're just continuing to win! -Wow, I rambled. Off subject, but I hope it helps!

I get what you are saying. Even some of my really good friends do not understand my fearful reactions to things; that do not scare them. On the other hand; some kid who despises me and tries to avoid me a lot and is mean to me, understands the root of my fears. I kinda wish he didn't though; because he is rude to me about my experiences.