Psychology Paper on Adult survivors of sexual abuse
Introduction
Adult survivors of sexual abuse are mature people recovering from a sexual assault and its related effects. These people are fragile due to unstable mental condition and emotional depression caused by the vice. This is the group of people that are members of this group; they have different sexual abuse memories that haunt them. Dealing with these people require great care to prevent them from getting back to a mental instability that they are fighting for recovery. The group is composed of individuals who have encountered either of the following devastating problems; abortion, sexual abuse and use of illegal drugs. Sexual abuse is an act whereby a victim is forced to have sexual activity without their consent; the victims are usually lured to situations where they cannot defend themselves (Drossman et al, 1990). The perpetrator of the act uses force to have sexual contact with the victim or they may use other forms of making sexual advances, including using threats of intoxicating the victims with drugs and alcohol (Drossman et al, 1990). Abortion, on the other hand, is the process of terminating a pregnancy for either medical or non-medical reason, the process is illegal and equally dangerous (Luker, 1984). In most cases, the victim of abortion make the decision to proceed with the act, however, there are some instances where victim bore to pressure and procure an abortion. The use of illegal drugs and alcohol is a psychological problem that is addictive and in most cases is a result of frustration and hopelessness (Martínez-Ortegaet al, 2006). This paper is an evaluation of the progress of the group meeting concerning the three issue; use of illegal drugs, sexual abuse, and abortion.
To understand how to handle the issues affecting the group members, the first step is to understand what the issues are, their causes and their effects. Later it will become simple to discuss the ways of avoiding the re-occurrence of the vice, additionally, understanding the problem will help in formulating how to handle the healing process.
Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse is an act whereby a victim is forced to have sexual activity without their consent; the victims are usually lured to situations where they cannot defend themselves (Drossman et al, 1990). Women and girls are the most reported casualties, however, men and boys are also victims of sexual abuse but they suffer in silence for fear of looking inferior. On the other hand, the male gender is the most reported perpetrator of the devious act which they commit against women, girls, and fellow men. Sexual abuse ranges from assault, inappropriate sexual contact without consent, to rape each of them having a devastating effect on the quality of life of the victim (Drossman et al, 1990). During the discussion victims of sexual abuse shy off from discussing their encounter and instead get into a somber mode. Other started shading tear when the issue is mentioned, while commenting that they issue should not be discussed because they are not comfortable with the topic. At the start of the discussion, few of the members protested about addressing the matter in the midst of the opposite gender because they presume that their counterpart was responsible for their situation. However, after an assurance that everything that will be said will be aiming at helping them come out of their situation, the team started being calm. The main section of concentration during the discussion was sexual abuse against women and more illustratively assault and rape which were of great concern to the members.
Rape is an act where the perpetrator forcefully penetrates the sexual organ of the victim either when the victim is conscious or unconscious. The vice is emotionally destructive since it leads to low self-esteem and even having a negative impression about the opposite sex. Most disturbing about this vice are that most of the victims know the people who committed the offense. Additionally, some of them have undergone the vice repeatedly under the hands of the people who are entrusted to protect them. The effects of rape are life threatening and cause long-term suffering to the victims both physically and mentally, therefore making rape one of the worst form of sexual abuse. Among the dangers of rape include contracting of sexually transmitted infections and HIV, unplanned pregnancy, infection of the reproductive system among other. Additionally, it leads to low self-esteem, depression, and other mental disorders. The mental disorders are the main challenges that the victim seek help from psychologist and psychiatrists.
Abortion
Abortion is the process of terminating a pregnancy for either medical or non-medical reasons, women are the victims of the act and are therefore the group that is faced with the effects of the vice (Luker, 1984). Abortion is a dangerous process, worst is when the process is carried out by untrained persons who do not have the expertise of handling the negative outcome of the process. Abortion has led to the death of many girls and women due to excessive bleeding and other related complications in the hands of untrained persons. Additionally, the process may lead to infection of the reproductive system and ultimately causing barrenness a condition that is emotionally disturbing. Involvement in unplanned, unprotected sex is the lead cause of abortion due to unplanned pregnancies, further, rape has also resulted to abortion when a woman becomes pregnant in the event of rape (Callahan, 1970). The practice is not advisable and should be the last resort in the case of a pregnancy, it is advisable to always maintain the use of protection to combat unplanned pregnancy.
Use of Illegal Drugs
The use of illegal drugs is a situation in which individuals use drugs that are prohibited to cause intoxication (Martínez-Ortegaet al, 2006). This is a psychological problem that is dominant with people that are frustrated and depressed. Therefore, they resort to drugs in order to hide their frustration (Renard, 1996). The practice is highly addictive, and at the end it changes the attributes of the victims mentally and health wise. The victims will show withdrawal syndrome, and some of them will adapt criminal disturbing behaviors; examples, some may become violent while other may start involving in a gang like behaviors (Martínez-Ortegaet al, 2006).
Conclusion
The issues of concern to the group members are the use of illegal drugs, Abortion and sexual abuse. These problems are personal problems of high magnitude and discussing them require a proper analysis of the possible approaches and outcome. The first step is to understand the problem and know it causes and effects, this will enable, the facilitator to have proper knowledge on how to approach the problems.
References
Callahan, D. (1970). Abortion: Law, choice, and morality.
Drossman, D. A., Leserman, J., Nachman, G., Li, Z., Gluck, H., Toomey, T. C., & Mitchell, C. M. (1990). Sexual and physical abuse in women with functional or organic gastrointestinal disorders. Annals of internal medicine, 113(11), 828-833.
Luker, K. (1984). Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood (Vol. 3). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Martínez-Ortega, J. M., Jurado, D., Martínez-González, M. A., & Gurpegui, M. (2006). Nicotine dependence, use of illegal drugs and psychiatric morbidity. Addictive behaviors, 31(9), 1722-1729.
Renard, R. D. (1996). Burmese Connection: Illegal Drugs and the Making of the Golden Triangle, Volume 6.