Does Childhood Rape Affects A Child's Mental Health

Sexually Skinned

Does childhood rape affect a child’s mental health in the long-run? The mental health of a minor is very predominant throughout their life not only for their personal well being , but also for the well being of their future. A child’s mental and psychological development can be negatively altered by a plethora of conditions and events. One of the most common ways a kid’s cerebral health in general can be distinctively damaged is the traumatic event of childhood rape.

When a child experiences any kind of sexual violation including rape, various areas of health are impacted. Young kids who have had to encounter such occurrences undergo drastic changes in their brain chemicals and behavioural

normalities. These areas of the brain such as the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex are all significant in the role of memory, emotions, and mental behaviours. The prefrontal cortex, being the most affected area, is the part of the frontal lobe that plays a vital ‘character’ in the regulations of behavioural and emotional functioning. “...This part of our brain is responsible for executive functions including focusing attention where we choose, rational thought processes and inhibiting impulses” (James Hopper and David Lisak, time.com). After an appalling episode of rape, the most responsive area, the prefrontal cortex ,receives a lot of chemical damage. Hopper and Lisak also state, “...in the states of high stress, fear or terror like combat or sexual assault, the prefrontal cortex is impaired- sometimes even effectively shut down- by a surge of stress chemicals.” More studies on the cerebral effects having to do with cases of rape and its disorders have showed more evidence on the drastic changes in the brain’s functionality. Research performed by the Mental Health Institute in Mainland, China, have displayed that there is an abnormal brain density in victims of rape. Processes of neuro-imaging have portrayed a significant reduction and enlargement as well as constant, unchanged volumes of the brain (Bossini and Castrogiovanni, cdn.intechweb.org). Other studies such as one by a neurologist have stated similar opinions to evidence findings, “The review of research...also outlined the evidence from neuro-imaging, pointing to structural and functional brain differences may underpin the psychological and behavioural problems associated with childhood maltreatment” (McCrory, aifs.gov.au). All of these neurological effects and changes lead into the child’s change in behavior no matter the age range of the young one. Many of these behaviors in young children act as a form of aggressiveness and issues of anger to the people around them and their ability to be around people, including family members becomes a difficult task. “...young children may lose skills they once learned and act younger than they are...they may withdraw from friends and family” (Public Department of Veterans, ptsd.va.gov). The menacing situations and circumstances of rape not only affect a child emotionally and physically, but mentally as well. Rape is such a damaging experience in the essence of the neurological system and leads to detrimental brain malfunctions and abnormalities for the rest of the childrens’ lives.
Alarming incidents such as childhood rape are a very correspondent cause of a multitude of mental illnesses that can intrude and harm a minor’s psychological development.

Some of the most prevailing mental disorders are depression, suicide, alcohol problems, eating disorders, and sexual dysfunction. Many of these issues are caused not only because of the trauma itself but the amount of fear and hysteria caused after it. Hysteria in a kid’s mind creates great amounts of psychological detriment. While all of the mental disorders in a young child are utterly oppressive, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be the most damaging in a young one’s behavioural health. “...PTSD involves the persistent re-experiences of the traumatic event...PTSD can also be associated with persistent symptoms of increased arousal such as difficulty falling asleep, anger outbursts or irritability, difficulty concentrating or hypervigilance” (Gail Hornor, medscape.com). Children that have posttraumatic stress disorder often experience ‘flashbacks’ of their rape incident as if it were reoccuring to them all over again. Several symptoms that kids display occur in a synchronized sequence like outlines to trace over the disorder of PTSD. “ One way to understand some sexually abused children’s symptoms patterns is to conceptualize them as developmental manifestations of posttraumatic stress disorder” (Goodwin, journals.sagepub.com). Rape experienced by someone living in their young ages of life

is a very extreme risk to developing any sort of mental or psychological illness and it easily leads into major health problems like major depression dysthymia; a long-term depression. Mental disorders do cause the exceeding of developmental complications and young children do not have control over the crisis in the case of rape and what may occur in their behavior after it.

The developmental drawbacks in a child who has lived through the experience of some sort of sexual abuse or rape may be delayed in effect.

Often times, large amounts of children do not completely recall the incident until their adolescent years or even until adulthood. Time and time again adolescents and adults who suffer from delayed mental disorders describe a blur in their memory associated with the occurrence as children. “Victims may remember in exquisite detail what was happening just before and after they realized they were being attacked, including context and the sequence of events. However, they are likely to have very fragmented and incomplete memories for much of what happens after that” (David Lisak, time.com). In a lot of cases, children who have incoherent memories end up with a mental disorder or illness in their life later on as they start piecing their sketchy recollections together. Adults with a history of childhood rape may ordeal through many illness symptoms that can become a burden for the grown man or woman to overcome. “The symptom patterns manifested by some adult survivors...seem to fit the features of chronic or delayed PTSD, intrusive thoughts, constricted affect, avoidance, and sleep disturbances” (Lindberg and Distad, journals.sagepub.com). In recent studies made by skilled psychologists, there has been several comparisons on the effects of mental illnesses with women who have a history of child sexual abuse to the effects on women

without a history of child sexual abuse. “Adult women with a history of childhood sexual abuse show greater evidence of sexual disturbance or dysfunction, homosexual experiences in adolescence or adulthood, depression, and are more likely than nonabused women to be revictimized” (Joseph H. Beitchman, sciencedirect.com). People with a history of childhood rape or child sexual abuse of any sort may be most likely entitled to the suffering of some kind of psychological, developmental, or mental illness whether it be years from the event or days after the event. The mental withdraws that sexual violations causes on a child are probable to be either chronic or delayed into the child’s adolescent and adult life.

Childhood rape is a nightmare for the millions of children that go through it every year. The mental instability caused is not a temporary thing for most children and they may have to live with the psychological damage their whole lives. Does childhood rape affect a child’s mental health in the long-run? Tragically, the general mental health of a child is horrifically impaired after an occurrence like sexual offense until they are grown. Although a majority of the effects may diminish with treatment, the health and instability of the brain still affects small things in the behavior of the child until they are full grown.