Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

["Crocker, Patricia King Williams - crockepk" <>]

Hi Wade,

 

I remember hearing something similar to Karen’s response – maybe even at a presentation by Lisak(??) – that survivors will often act in ways that seem totally incongruent with having been assaulted in an effort to find a sense of normalcy or balance, sort of like trying to trick themselves out of feeling traumatized.  The presenter spoke specifically about behaviors involving the assailant such as ongoing communication or even sexual contact with the assailant after an assault.

 

Tricia

 

Patricia K. W. Crocker, Ph.D.

Staff Psychologist & Coordinator of Sexual Trauma Empowerment Program

James Madison University

Counseling and Student Development Center

Varner House

800 South Main Street, MSC 0801

Harrisonburg, VA  22807

Phone: (540) 568-6552

Fax: (540) 568-8096

 

Because of the high value we place on the privacy of our clients, staff members of the CSDC do not use email to provide counseling services.  Further, because we cannot guarantee that messages will be read regularly, information regarding emergency situations should not be transmitted to us via email.  All communication about matters other than scheduling should occur either in-person at Varner House or by phone (540.568.6552).  For mental health emergencies occurring after working hours or on weekends, please contact the Office of Public Safety (540.568.6911) or go to the Emergency Room at Rockingham Memorial Hospital, 2010 Health Campus Drive, 540.689.1414.

 

This message is intended for designated recipient(s).  It may contain confidential or proprietary information subject to confidentiality protections.  Any review, retransmission, dissemination, or other use of this information by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is prohibited.  If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender by reply email and delete this message.

 

 

 

From: Guttentag, Karen S. [mailto:]
Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2013 8:49 AM
To: Felty, Wade P.;
Subject: RE: Survivors continuing relationship with attacker

 

Hi Wade,

 

My (amateurish) sense of why this might happen is that it may reflect an effort to reestablish a sense of normalcy and to minimize the trauma of what took place. Behaving as though this interaction was normal and nothing unusual may be a coping mechanism on the part of the survivor, an attempt to convince herself/himself that what occurred was not so terrible, not so out of the ordinary, and by doing so, regain a sense of balance.

 

Hope this is helpful—and I’d love to hear other interpretations as well, as I may be off base.

 

Karen

 

Karen S. Guttentag

Associate Dean for Judicial Affairs and Student Life

Middlebury College

Middlebury, VT 05753

phone) 802-443-2024

fax) 802-443-2525

 

 

 

From: Felty, Wade P. []
Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2013 1:53 AM
To:
Subject: Survivors continuing relationship with attacker

 

Colleagues,

 

I want to thank all of your for your many very helpful responses to my request for information on the neurobiology of sexual assault. The works of Dr. Lisak (who I’ve heard in person and read a lot of) and Dr. Rachel Campbell (who I was not familiar with until many of you wrote in) are particularly helpful. I think I have a solid mound of information to give our Dean’s Sexual Conduct Review Board to help them understand memory problems and tonic immobility. If I haven’t thanked everyone personally, I am working on doing so.

 

The final piece I am interested in is something a few panel members have questioned me about, and which I do not have a scientific/psychiatric explanation at the moment but I have heard it is common response….what causes some victims to continue associating with their attacker? i.e. last year we had a victim talk about how she texted her attacker a few times, and they even went out on several dates, and she continued regular social contact right up to the days leading up to her disclosing to us. Is this a symptom of rape trauma syndrome? I know it is almost more understandable when they are intimate partner, but what about when they are mere acquaintances and the victim still seeks out contact with them (positive contact, not accusatory/angry contact). Some of my older faculty colleagues have trouble understanding this. I know it is a common response but I am trying to explain possible motivations.

 

Wade

 

 

Wade Felty

Wade Felty

Office of Residence Life & Housing and Judicial Affairs

Assistant Sexual Assault Response Coordinator

Randolph-Macon College

(804)-752-3234 (Office)

(717)-813-3513 (Mobile 1)

(804)-441-4187 (Mobile 2)