THE EFFECTS OF RAPE

“Rebranding A Woman is an organization concerned with the overall well-being and education of the female child/adult. With that being said, one of the goals is to provide the necessary help and support to victims of rape. The process of recovering from a tragic rape experience differs from survivor to survivor depending on the nature of the attack, how they cope with their trauma and social influences which impacts the healing process.

This process requires patience and persistence. A survivor may develop a negative outlook or even feel unworthy of betterment in life. Some survivors turn to drug abuse as a way to cope with the overwhelming emotions. These individuals may live in fear and blame themselves for allowing the rape to even happen. There are emotional boundaries in place such as trust and anger issues or imbalances as well as living in a constant state of shock. Suicidal thoughts and attempts are common. Dissociation, including not being able to focus on work, education and even feeling vacant in everyday occurrences or routines. PTSD, panic-attacks, uncontrollable thoughts and nightmares are common for the individual. Depression, hopelessness, sadness, extreme weight loss or even gain. Victims often are under a fear of being stigmatized if it was discovered they were raped.

If a survivor's reactions do not match common responses as mentioned above it does not mean what happened was not tragic as every individual survivor responds to these events in their own way. These effects are not easy to deal with but with the right help and support they can be managed and this organization will try by all means necessary and possible to do so.”

-Mirriam Dzeka, Secretary