Rape, memory and post-traumatic stress
Research shows that sexual assault survivors frequently experience distressing symptoms o f post-traumatic stress. These can include intrusive thoughts, memories and images, flashbacks as well as anxiety, panic, depression and feelings o f guilt and shame. The aim o f this study is to better understand what factors influence how these distressing symptoms develop. In particular, we are researching how psychological difficulties relate to the following:
o Memory for the assault (e.g. whether memory for the traumatic event is very patchy, very clear, whether the survivor experiences flashbacks, or amnesia for the whole assault, whether they experienced any ‘emotional numbing’, or dissociation, during the assault),
o The emotions experienced by victims at the time o f the assault, and after the assault in response to their memories o f what happened (such as fear, helplessness, shame, anger),
o How survivors understood or made sense o f their traumatic experiences, and how that has affected their recovery (particularly PTSD symptoms).
Improving understanding o f how certain types o f traumatic memories/ memory gaps, emotions and the meaning o f the assault all relate to posttraumatic stress will enable psychological interventions for these difficulties to be improved in light o f the findings.
Drug rape, memory and post-traumatic stress
As part o f this research project, we particularly aim to explore the psychological impact o f drug-rape, a recently recognised and increasing problem in the UK. By drug-rape, we refer to sexual assaults where a drug (e.g. a sleeping pill or alcohol) is given to the victim without their consent. Survivors often have confused, patchy memory or even no memory for the assault. We are keen to improve understanding o f the emotional impact o f this type o f assault by investigating the following questions: o How do these drugs affect victims at the time o f the assault and their subsequent
memory for the rape?
o How do memories for a sexual assault differ for drug-rape victims as compared with victims who were not drugged?
o How do these memories, or amnesia, impact on the psychological difficulties experienced by victims o f drug-rape (particularly anxiety, depression and post traumatic stress)?
To date, there has been very little research into the impact o f drug-rape on psychological wellbeing and professionals have had little information to guide their practice in supporting survivors. We hope that developing a profile o f the ways in which the drugs used in drug-rape influence memory and emotional wellbeing will be useful in the following ways:
o Informing legal and police procedures such as evidence taking, and enabling women to pursue convictions against their attackers with better guidance and support.
o Enabling counselling services to be better tailored to the needs o f survivors o f drug-rape.
o To raise the profile o f drug-rape issues with wider support services by disseminating the findings o f our research.
3. Legal and psychological support following sexual assault
We are interested in knowing whether sexual assaults, including drug-related sexual assaults, are reported to the police, and how many reach court or convictions. We will also survey what kinds o f psychological/ other support survivors have received and what they have found most beneficial. This information will be useful to feed back to professions and services involved with offering support to rape survivors.
What would be involved for women who choose to take part?
Taking part would involve completing five short, postal questionnaires (see enclosed), which can be returned anonvmouslv. We also aim to follow up these questionnaires with a short (30 minute) interview with any survivors who indicate on the questionnaires that they are willing to be contacted in person by giving their name and contact details. This interview can be carried out by ‘phone, face-to-face at University College London or at another location. The questionnaires and interview both involve answering a range o f questions about memories and emotions relating to the sexual assault, about symptoms o f post traumatic stress, anxiety and depression, and how survivors have made sense o f their traumatic experience.
Who could contribute to this research project?
We are inviting all women to contribute to this research project who are over the age o f 18 years in the UK who have been the victim o f a rape or sexual assault, including drug-rape. We would like to represent the experiences o f as many female survivors as we can in this project.
Confidentiality
The total confidentiality o f participants will be respected at all times. All details about participants and their experiences will remain completely confidential to the named researchers on this project, and will be used for research purposes only. No personal or identifying information will be disclosed or attached to any o f the questionnaires or interviews.
University College London Ethics Committee
All proposals for research at UCL are reviewed by an ethics committee before they can proceed. This proposal was reviewed and agreed by the joint UCL/ UCLH committees on the ethics o f human research.
Could [Victim Support/ Rape Crisis] help us?
We know that [Victim Support/ Rape Crisis] centre’s are extremely busy, but very much hope that your centre could contribute to the research by distributing information sheets about the project and copies o f our questionnaires to women who have attended your centre in the past year or currently attend the centre. We would be able to give you copies o f questionnaires in envelopes with SAE’s so that they could be given out/ posted to survivors, depending on your policy. This would also maintain client confidentiality, as we would not need to know their names or contact details unless they chose to disclose these. We would also stress in the information sheet that participation is completely voluntary and that the questionnaires can be returned anonymously.
Timescale of the research
We aim to collect questionnaires from survivors o f sexual assault over the next 6 months and to have the research completed in May 2001.
Feedback to services about the findings of the research
The findings o f the researeh will be disseminated widely to professionals and organisations involved with supporting survivors o f sexual assault, including Victim Support. The results should be o f interest and use to all those involved in offering counselling and support to survivors o f sexual assault.
For more information about the study