For a blog ostensibly about literature, my first post has nothing to do with literature whatsoever. Sue me, I don’t care. This is a serious issue and it’s worth talking about; no matter how many times it needs to be said.

A lot of countries in the world are grappling with the escalating cases of sexual assault. For example in the U.S. a person is sexually assaulted in every 98 seconds. This is a huge number of persons getting sexually violated. Sexual assault seems so prevalent nowadays due to a number of reasons. Sexual violence permeates from the modern culture where hit TV shows show rape scenes that are violent to sexist dress codes that seem to reinforce this rape culture.

There are so many cases of famous athletes asking young girls to keep quiet about the sexual assault they suffer in their hands. Stories of sexual assault are making headlines in most college campuses and there is even sexual assault allegations leveled against the current US President. These are just examples of how the culture of reinforcing the normalization of sexual violence is contributing towards the escalating trend of this issue.

The After Effect of Sexual Assault on the Victims

Sexual assault creates shame, fear, as well as guilt in the victims. The physical damage caused by the assault may heal with time but the psychological and emotional scars thus caused will remain forever. The most damage is caused by betrayal whereby most of the time the perpetrators of these crimes are people who are well known to the victim or those that were supposed to protect them but instead took advantage. This betrayal is a devastating experience and may cause the victim to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

A victim suffers from fear that can be comprised of a number of components like anticipation of disapproval, pain as well as threats posed by other family members. Shame is usually borne by the victim especially if the assault was incestuous. The victim ends up absorbing their abuser’s guilt and shame, which makes the situation worse than it was. The guilt described above occurs as a result of the victim not having the courage to say “No”. The powerlessness and helplessness of a sexual assault victim is terrifying, real and brings about lasting consequences.

Sexual assault victims usually suffer nightmares, flashbacks, physical ailments, guilt, fear, confusion, low self-esteem, relationship difficulties, suicidal thoughts, negativity and addictions. All these feelings are dangerous and ought to be taken care of through expert help to the victims. Hypnotherapy is one of the ways that effectively gets rid of the PTSD that sexual assault victims suffer from and apologize to the whole world.

How Hypnotherapy Helps Sexual Assault Victims

Hypnotherapy has been found to have the ability to assist people who have faced sexual assault in their lives. A large number of sexual assault victims usually find a way of separating their physical bodies as the assault takes place. This state of mind is referred to as hypnosis is a form of protection that most sexual assault victims resort to in order to protect themselves. Victims usually fall upon this state of mind all by themselves. If you are looking for a way to heal from your past sexual assault instance, then it is important to note that the hypnosis that protected you when the abuse was taking place can help you let go of this traumatizing experience.

This self-protection state of the mind lasts for a longer period than intended and this causes sexual abuse victims to find themselves estranged from their emotions and bodies years later. This causes victims not to trust their own bodies or feel divorced from it. This leads to eating disorders, anxiety, tears and anger outbursts.

Visiting a competent and qualified hypnotherapist works wonders as they use hypnotherapy to regain the power held by the unconscious mind to reverse the dissociation process. Hypnosis helps the sexual assault victims re-associate with their emotions in a controlled and safe manner.

Hypnotherapy enables the sexual assault victim to find new ways of dealing with their painful past. A victim is guided on how to forgive their younger self for all the bad things that happened to them and this causes the rest of their emotions fall in place. This process helps a sexual assault victim to develop new ways of dealing with their emotions every now and then in order to eradicate the need of repressing them and suffering the consequences of having panic/anxiety attacks or exploding into tears and rages. Hypnotherapy helps the victim gain all these goals in a respectful, careful and gentle manner. The victim learns how to let go of the defense mechanisms they required in the past but are no longer necessary.