The following are the most common psychological aftereffects that have been identified as part of the rape trauma syndrome: fear and anxiety all symptoms associated with PTSD, including fear and avoidance, feelings of unreality, physical symptoms, depression, re-experiencing, nightmares, startle response, and general hyper arousal depression, including in some cases a high level of suicidal ideation and attempts negative self-esteem including self-blame, guilt, and shame negative impact on social adjustment, including poorer overall economic and social, work, leisure, and intimate relationship and/or marital adjustment problems with sexual functioning, including avoidance and low sexual satisfaction feelings of anger, hostility, alienation, and confusion and feelings of fatigue. The reorganization phase, a longer-term process, consisted of active lifestyle changes and chronic disturbances such as fear, shame, and nightmares. The acute phase, including impact reactions such as shock and disbelief and somatic reactions having to do with any physical trauma, was characterized by disorganization lasting from several hours to several weeks. Burgess and Holmstrom noted that many rape victims experience similar reactions following assault. Rape trauma syndrome refers to both immediate (acute) and longer-term (chronic and reorganization) effects in the aftermath of a rape. Since then, women’s responses to rape have been conceptualized within the PTSD framework, since symptoms closely resemble those within each of the three primary criteria of PTSD (intrusive, avoidant, and hyperarousal phenomena). ![]() Theirs was one of the first published descriptions of rape based on research findings as a traumatic stressor and its effects as posttraumatic responses it anteceded by 6 years the publication of the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual III in 1980. They originally published their findings in 1974. ![]() Rape trauma syndrome was a term coined by researchers Ann Burgess and Lynda Holmstrom following their preliminary and pioneering research on the effects of rape on a cohort of women who had been raped and then treated medically at a Boston hospital emergency room. It was during the late 1960s and 1970s when women began to meet in consciousness raising groups that rape and other forms of violence against women began to be identified and discussed in public. Based on case precedent on the admissibility of rape trauma syndrome as scientific expert testimony, rape trauma syndrome should be admissible if (i) the evidence presented only shows the typical reactions to rape and does not make any legal conclusions as to whether the victim was raped, (ii) the expert is qualified, (iii) a proper foundation is laid, (iv) liberal cross-examination of the expert is allowed, and (v) the defense can introduce its own expert testimony on rape trauma syndrome.Prior to the 1970s, rape was shrouded in secrecy and shame. ![]() Rape trauma syndrome meets the requirements for admissibility when it is used for the proper purpose and with adequate safeguards to prevent any unfair prejudice. Courts have held that expert testimony of rape trauma syndrome is admissible as evidence of (i) lack of consent, (ii) the amount of damages in civil suits, (iii) a defense to culpable behavior, and (iv) an explanation for behavior of the victim that is inconsistent with the claim of rape. Rape trauma syndrome can help corroborate the victim's assertion of lack of consent and also help the jury understand the typical reactions of rape victims. ![]() Evidence of rape trauma syndrome can be very useful in explaining the behavior of rape victims. Behavioral science studies conducted on rape victims reveal a posttraumatic stress disorder which follows the attack known as rape trauma syndrome.
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