If only things could go back to “normal”.
You feel like you’re all alone. After all, you don’t know who you can trust anymore.
You’ve tried to deal with your pain on your own, but the memories are so devastating that you can’t anymore.
You don’t want to think about being sexually assaulted, but you can’t stop. It keeps replaying in your mind over and over.
How Do People Often Respond After Sexual Assault?
Regardless of when you were sexually assaulted, the pain you feel affects your mental health and overall wellbeing in a profound way. You may be experiencing some or many of the following:
- hating your body
- trust issues
- intimacy issues
- suicide, cutting and/or self-harm
- sleep problems / nightmares
- feelings of guilt and shame
- disordered eating
- anxiety
- perfectionism
- school/work problems
- withdrawing from friends
- depression
- thoughts of suicide or self-harm
- chronic pain/illness
- concentration problems
- never feeling safe
- feeling powerless
Sexual assault can affect you for years after the abuse stops. Childhood sexual abuse and sexual assault as an adult can both affect your physical health and relationships. This violence is damaging to your body, your relationships, and your life as a whole. Fortunately, it does not have to control your life forever. Therapy can help you find peace.
Counseling for Sexual Assault Can Help You Find the Strength and Power to Take Back Control of Your Life
Talking about the time or times you were sexually assaulted is such a scary thing. Therefore, reaching out and contacting a therapist is often the hardest part of treatment. At our counseling center in Baltimore, MD we understand how hard it is to open up and tell someone what happened to you. So, when we meet, our first priority is to build trust. We start where you are and how you feel right now. Then, we will work together to build a step-by-step treatment plan that walks you through the process of treatment for sexual assault.
Our Compassionate Therapists are Trained to Help Survivors of Sexual Violence Heal
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Sexual Assault
- Exploring ways the trauma has impacted the survivor’s life.
- Who is safe? Where is it safe to go? What is an assault vs. what is normal sex?
- Challenging the negative thoughts that many trauma survivors have after being sexually assaulted.
- For example, most survivors believe the assault was their fault that keep survivors feeling ashamed and isolated.
- Understanding why you reacted the way you did during the assault and immediately after.
- Helping survivors develop healthy coping skills and how to manage PTSD symptoms.
- Understanding mental health symptoms happening as a result of being sexually abused or assaulted.
- Some symptoms such as cutting, dissociation, or alcohol abuse may have been what you did to survive the pain you feel from the memories of what happened to you.
- Helping survivors develop empathy for who you were at the time of the assault and who you are now.
Safety Immediately After an Assault
- Encouraging any needed medical treatment.
- Helping weigh the pros/cons of reporting the assault.
- Ongoing support for victims/survivors though any legal decision-making process.
Emotionally Focused Therapy After Rape and Sexual Violence
The longer you keep the pain yourself, the harder it is to make it go away.
Definitions of Terms Often Used to Discuss Sexual Assault
First, we want to make it clear that you get to define what has happened to you however you want to. We will not talk you into or out of any specific label on your trauma.
Rape
Sometimes, people use terms like “date rape” and “acquaintance rape” to talk about what happened to them.
Effective Consent
How Long Will I Be in Therapy for Sexual Assault?
Some people are concerned that starting therapy means entering into a lifelong contract. That isn’t usually the case. The therapist doesn’t decide how long you need therapy, you get to decide. There is no timeline for recovering from sexual assault or abuse. But, you may be surprised to learn that therapy doesn’t have to go on for a long time. You may able to work with a therapist for a shorter amount of time and still learn new to heal from sexual assault.
The most important part of trauma treatment is your comfort and healing. Together, we will determine a course of treatment that will meet your needs and stop seeing each other when you are ready.
Begin Therapy for Sexual Assault Survivors in Baltimore
If you have survived a sexual assault, it is never too early or too late to begin therapy. Our compassionate counselors are here to help you find strength and resiliency after experiencing trauma. To begin therapy at our counseling clinic in Baltimore, MD please follow these three steps:
1. Reach out through our appointment request form.
2. Meet with our caring therapists who are trained to help survivors of sexual assault.
3. Begin to cope with the pain of the assault and finally regain control of your life.
Other Mental Health Services Offered at New Connections Counseling Center
In addition to treatment for sexual assault, our therapists offer a variety of other mental health & counseling services at our therapy office in Baltimore, MD. Ultimately, our goal is not only to help you feel better but help you live better. Therefore, our services include therapy for depression, treatment for anxiety, counseling for grief and loss, therapy for college students, counseling for life transitions, individual counseling for relationship issues, therapy for women, and therapy for men. Call today to learn more about the many ways we can help you live the life you want to live.
Blog posts for Sexual Assault Survivors
How EMDR Therapy Can Help You Cope With Trauma?
It is likely that, at some point in your life, you will experience some kind of distressing event that impacts your ability to cope. Research indicates that 50% of people experience at least one trauma in their lives. Trauma can appear in our life suddenly, like the...
Who Can Benefit From EMDR Therapy? Reflection from a Baltimore Trauma Therapist
Have you or someone you know experienced trauma? Is it impacting your/their ability to function in daily life? To connect in relationships or be present at the moment? Are you or someone you know experiencing depression and anxiety as a result? Trauma can happen to...
Why the Pain from Childhood Sexual Assault Can Affect a Survivor for Years
Research has demonstrated that an alarming number of adults were abused or sexually assaulted as children. Years after the abuse, many of these now adults continue to struggle to come out of their shells and thrive. Although they've been deeply wounded and scarred,...