Subtitle? - Rape Crisis

Healing
Healing
this country, with its high rape statistics,
someone you know may have been raped
and knows exactly how you feel.
Caring for your emotions
One of the hardest things to do after
being raped is to endure the emotional
pain and suffering you feel as a
consequence. These feelings are very
important. They can be the real key to our
healing even though they hurt so much
that all we want is for them to stop.
Give yourself space and time to feel. Pay
attention to your feelings. Trying to push
them away could make your healing
take longer. Try to express feelings and
share them in some way. Talk about them
to your family or friends or write them
down somewhere. Much of the pain rape
survivors feel is from trying not to be
angry, scared, or vulnerable and worrying
about how they’ll appear to others. In
fact, we all have a right to these emotions
and to freedom of expression.
Some feelings such as hurt, pain, anger
and rage can be very frightening for us
and those around us. Remember a few
clear rules for yourself to make it safer to
feel them:
• Do not harm yourself
• Do not harm anything valuable to you
• Do not harm other people
• Do not harm anything valuable to
someone else
The last thing you want is to have to
regret something you have done. If you
are worried that you might not be able
to stick to these rules and could lose
control of your emotions, then contact a
counselling service or a doctor. You can
even go to your local hospital emergency
room for help. There’s nothing to be
ashamed of from experiencing a strong
reaction to an extreme situation.
There are some herbal remedies that may
help for stress, depression and anxiety.
They are St John’s Wort and Kava Kava.
They can be bought at health shops and at
certain pharmacies or supermarkets.
Don’t be afraid of antidepressant
medicines, they are tools to help you –
no more and no less. As with everything,
gain as much information as possible in
various ways to help you make your own
best decisions.
And that’s about all. Try to tell people
what you’re going through. They like to
be needed even as a listener. If you don’t
want any advice, be sure to let them know
that. Cry if you have to. And most of all, if
there is something to laugh at, then laugh.
There is nothing like laughter for healing.
You can recover, you can even be stronger
than you were now that you have survived
being raped - and recovered.
Note: There are further useful tips in the
section of this booklet under the chapter
called Male Rape: Survivor’s Tools. They are
useful for both men and women.
Myths & Facts
about rape
Myths & Facts
32 33