I think the best mental health advice I could ever share with other women is on a topic that most victims find extremely hard to discuss. Some women who have been raped have a tendency to become somewhat secluded on the matter. For whatever reasons, they choose not to go to the police. They choose not to share their traumatic experience with their family, friends, or significant others. And they choose not to seek help on how to move on from a professional therapist. Ladies, I’m here to tell you that this is the wrong way to go about this. Rape is entirely too difficult to handle alone.
It is important to go to the police immediately after the rape occurs. I think this is the first step to getting over this challenge. If we do this, then the officers can escort us to the hospital where exam processes will begin. These exams can help find any DNA that can be matched to the rapist. When we follow along with this step we are ensuring that the rapist cannot hurt us again or destroy another woman’s life; and that does bring some peace of mind.
I think it is definitely important to move to the next step and share the experience with family, friends, and significant others. The people we are close to are going to know that something is wrong anyway, and it only makes the trauma more difficult to cope with by trying to hide it. If we do not tell them what happened we could begin to be more and more secluded. We will be alone not only because of fear that we may get raped again, but also because we don’t want anyone to know the painful emotions that are going on inside of us. I think if we follow these thoughts, then the pain is going to stay with us much longer than it has to.
The people that love us are going to comfort us. They will do whatever it takes to try and help. They aren’t going to look down on us, or think badly of us. They will protect us and fight for us. They are our backbone in horrible situations like this, and it is vital to lean on them during these times.
The last step is to see a therapist and learn the correct ways to overcome the effects that a rape brings. They can help us so that we know what to do when we wake up in the middle of the night covered in sweat, terrified because of the nightmare of seeing the rapist’s face and reliving that terrible day. They can help us to learn to trust again. They can teach us how to help other women who have also been raped, and to share this advice so that women don’t take the wrong direction.
So ladies, don’t keep your rape to yourself! Get out there and tell the police. Tell your loved ones. And get some professional help. We can overcome these trying times, but not by ourselves. We need other people. We need each other.