Depressed By Sexual Abuse
Many women who are sexually abused remain slaves to their experience even decades later. What once was thought to be an experience of two lifetimes ago actually still feels very real to them in the present moment; their unconscious mind sprinkles the memory onto their conscious mind at random and unpredictable times. For most of their lives, they have buried their experience, hoping to never have to revisit it.
But sometimes they have no choice because their mind will force them to revisit it. Whenever they suppress the experience, they tend to experience mental turmoil such as anger, hatred, irritability and even depression. Some suffer from PTSD symptoms such as flashbacks, nightmares, hypervigilance in certain situations and avoidance of certain public places.
Because of repressing their experience, there are some women who don’t recall their sexual abuse; they have buried their trauma within the depths of their mind. But when the trauma resurfaces, sometimes even decades later, the depressive episode that follows can be very bad, sometimes even presenting with psychotic features that are irrelevant to their past trauma.
The intellectually disabled are a vulnerable population when it comes to sexual abuse. Because of their developmental illness, caretakers, stepfathers or close family members are often the perpetrators at play. It becomes even more difficult for an intellectually-disabled victim to process and understand their sexual trauma due to the nature of their illness; the experience may be like a glitch in their mind that constantly resurfaces at random times.
The Me Too movement has shed light on all the young women or women of age who have been abused by men. Many times, these women were lured by the money and opportunities that would become available after performance of sexual acts, but this does not mean that the experiences were consensual. It’s one thing to be lured by money and materialism and consent to sex and another when a man forces himself upon you. Often times, these women remain victims for life, having never truly recovered their feminism and self-identity following the sexual trauma.
It’s important to help these women come out of the shadows and give them a platform from where they can express their feelings, frustrations and pain. This platform is called The DSM Ready Community and is open to all people who want to share their experiences with sexual trauma, mental illness or life struggles in general. We welcome all races, cultures and political affiliations; we do not judge.
Are you Ready? (This is Defeating Stigma Mindfully)
DSM (Defeating Stigma Mindfully) 