I had the opportunity to connect with Jessica Bomyea, a grad student who is doing research on the occurrence of mental trauma after sexual assault. I found her knowledge valuable in my regard of gender violence and its impact on women. The following is a Q&A between us via email. I hope you find this as interesting of a read as I did! In addition, Jessica is still conducting her research. For more information, please contact the Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders Program at jbomyea@ucsd.edu.
Women’s Center: Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into this work. Why do you feel sexual assault and its impact on women needs to be explored?
I am a third year student in the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology. My research interests are in studying treatments for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Sexual assault is unfortunately all too common (estimated prevalence rates for sexual assault in adult women range from about 13 to 25 %; Elliot, Mok, & Briere, 2004) and can have a long-lasting detrimental effect on the victim, including development of PTSD. Although there are effective treatments for PTSD, they do not always work for every person. I think it is important to continue looking for new approaches to treatment, and to better understand what interventions are most effective for specific individuals, including women who have experienced sexual trauma.
WC: Please define PTSD and how it can occur after sexual assault.
PTSD is an anxiety disorder that occurs in some individuals following experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event where the person experienced intense fear, helplessness, or horror (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV; APA, 2000). Examples of such an event include sexual assault, as well as motor vehicle accidents, combat, and natural disasters, among others. Symptoms of PTSD are organized into three “clusters”. The first is re-experiencing symptoms, such as having nightmares, intrusive distressing memories about the event, acting or feeling as though the event is happening again, and intense distress and physiological reactivity when one encounters cues that resemble the traumatic event. The second cluster is “avoidance and numbing”, which includes efforts to avoid reminders of the trauma, inability to recall parts of the traumatic event, diminished interest in activities, feeling detached from others, restricted affect, and a sense of foreshortened future. The third cluster is “hyperarousal”. These include symptoms like sleep disturbances, difficulty concentrating, irritability, and exaggerated startle reflex. However, an individual does not need to have all of these symptoms to have PTSD.
Immediately after an event like a sexual assault, most people have symptoms like these. For many people, the symptoms resolve over time. If these types of symptom persist for more than a month after the assault and are distressing or impairing to the affected individual, I would recommend seeking professional help.
WC: What is your framework in the research you are doing with sexual assault and PTSD? Please tell me a little bit about the angle you are taking in your work.
In my current research I am specifically looking at a computer-based intervention for the disorder. It is very different from what someone would typically think of as therapy. This intervention is based on research indicating that PTSD is maintained by specific types of “cognitive processing,” which is a term for the way that our brain manages information. One example is that PTSD may be fueled by difficulty in putting aside thoughts about the trauma. My computer program trains the user to put aside certain kinds of information in order to better remember other information. Our hope is that this skill will generalize to putting aside thoughts about trauma and, therefore, help facilitate the individual’s recovery from PTSD.
WC: Tell me a little bit about the recovery process after sexual assault. Are there things people can do to make the process easier?
After a traumatic event of any kind many individuals experience PTSD-like symptoms, such as nightmares or intrusive thoughts about the event, or feeling jumpy and anxious. These are normal reactions to experiencing something that is life threatening or extremely distressing. People should remember this and not feel that they are “abnormal” or “weak.” If these symptoms are very upsetting or continue for more than a month, the individual may want to consider seeking professional psychotherapy. Research suggests that trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), such as Prolonged Exposure or Cognitive Processing Therapy, effectively treats PTSD. A number of website list local providers that specialize in CBT, including the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (www.abct.org) and the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (www. Adaa.org). UCSD students can contact the Counseling and Psychological Services center is also available ((858)534-3755, http://psychservices.ucsd.edu/
Neda Said
Social Justice Peer Educator
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