When recovering from a sexual assault, what may a victim expect?
Every person reacts differently to sexual assault. There are five stages of recovery, which most victims will experience to some degree. It is not unusual for different people to experience the stages in different orders or even to repeat stages several times. These stages are: Stage 1: Initial Shock – Shock following an assault can take on many forms. Victims may experience emotional as well as physical shock, which in turn could be expressed as very controlled, and/or withdrawn, or, highly expressive, including crying, screaming or shaking. Victims may or may not feel comfortable communicating these feeling others. Stage 2: Denial – This stage may find victims attempting to go on with a normal routine and wanting to forget about the assault. This denial or rationalization of what happened is an attempt to deal with inner turmoil. Stage 3: Reactivation – This stage involves a re-experiencing of the feelings from Stage 1, usually brought on by the triggering of memories of the assault.
