Rape or sexual violence is one of the worst and hardest things that can be experienced by humans, both men and women. In addition to physical injuries, rape victims carry emotional wounds that require time to heal.

The conditions, impacts, and challenges faced by each rape victim are different from each other. Generally victims will feel fear, anxiety, panic and shock. Victims of rape often lose confidence and feel guilty. Often rape victims blame themselves for what happened.

Psychological and Health Burden of Rape Victims - Alodokter

In many cases of rape, most victims are reluctant to share their experiences. They are reluctant to tell because of various reasons, ranging from feeling embarrassed, lacking trust in listeners, fear of retaliation, to fear of not being trusted about what they tell. Not infrequently, the psychological and physical burden must be borne by the victim himself

Psychological Expenses to Face

Rape definitely brings trauma to those who experience it. Psychologically, here are some things experienced by rape victims.

Blame yourself

Blaming yourself is a part that is often felt by rape victims. Powerlessness and feeling that the rape that occurred might be triggered by his own actions or behavior, often causing victims to blame themselves. For example, female victims may feel that their style of use has triggered rape.

Suicide

Not infrequently rape victims choose to end their lives by suicide. The factors that often trigger someone to commit suicide are feeling depressed and lack of hope to live life. In addition, feeling embarrassed is also often the reason for committing suicide.

Criminalization of rape victims

The criminalization of rape victims can indeed occur. As stated earlier, until now, clothes worn by women are often considered to provoke a man to commit rape. The criminalization of rape victims makes women sometimes choose to forget about the rape they experienced, or pretend nothing has happened.

In addition, victims are at risk of experiencing other things such as depression, feeling as if the event is repeated over and over, often feeling anxious and panic, experiencing sleep disorders and often having nightmares, crying, aloof, avoiding meeting others, or on the contrary it does not want to be left alone. There are times when they withdraw and become quiet, or even become angry.

Effects on Physical Victims

In addition to psychological injuries, the rape victim carried wounds on his body. Some of the wounds can be seen immediately, but some of them may only be detected some time later. Rape victims may also be seen experiencing changes in diet or eating disorders.