Sexual trauma affects female veterans

One in seven female military veterans are distressed and suffering after enduring sexual trauma during their service, a recent study presented to the American Public Health Association shows.

Those veterans, both men and women who are victims of sexual trauma, from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan who sought Veterans' Administration (VA) medical assistance were found to have depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders, adjustment disorders and substance-abuse disorders, according to an article from the Feminist Daily News, part of the Feminist Majority Foundation. Post-traumatic stress disorder was found to be much more common in women than men in that group.

According to the article, this is the first research study done that has focused on linking sexual trauma to post-traumatic stress disorder in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

Men and women veterans who reported sexual trauma, including rape or threatened sexual harassment, were three times as likely to be diagnosed with a mental disorder than those veterans who didn't report any sexual trauma, as found by researchers at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System's National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The data collected for the research involved screening 89,960 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who sought medical care at any VA hospital or health clinic over a six-year span, according to an article by the Washington Post. According to the article, 14.5 percent of women and .6 percent of men reported having experienced sexual trauma during their service. Of those women who reported, 76 percent were diagnosed with a mental disorder.

According to the Veterans Health Administration policy, all female and male veterans that visit a VA hospital or clinic are required to be screened for experiences of military sexual trauma, and treatment for victims of military sexual trauma is to be provided for free at all VA facilities.

I can't image why someone would think it's right to abuse someone in any way. These women chose to serve the United States, and they come home feeling abused and traumatized from the experience. Military service isn't supposed to be all fun and smiles, but it should definitely not be a breeding ground for the sexual abuse of anyone.

Edna B. Foa, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, studies sexual violence and told the Washington Post that if victims of sexual trauma get treatment, many of them can recover.

Foa said that about 20 percent of women who are raped in the general U.S. population develop post-traumatic stress disorder. "Even if they don't meet the criteria of the disorder, many of them will have symptoms that will cause them distress, difficulties having sexual relationships, etc ... Having a sexual trauma is serious," she said.

This issue is real and is beginning to get the media attention it deserves. Women are truly affected by sexual trauma afflicted upon them during military service. "The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq,"by Helen Benedict, a professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, focuses on this very issue. Her nonfiction book will be published in April 2009 and will likely be a collection of stories of abused military women and their personal experiences.



Image from www.helenbenedict.com.