• Trauma, Stress, Family Violence, Sexual Assault and/or Sexual Abuse; Recovery Issues:
     
    Post Traumatic Stress  
    Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a reaction to shock or trauma that can be caused by physical or psychological events; including witnessing or being vicitimized by violence; participation in violent and/or invasive activities; shocking events; kidnapping and/or any life-threatening event.  War, rape, sexual and physical assaults, kidnapping and plane/car/train crashes are examples of life events that may be followed by PTSD. One website offers a children's network of resources for PTSD.  
    A simple clear explanation of trauma, stress and critical incident is found in a question-and-answer format on this Crisis Services page.
    A fact sheet on PTSD is available from the NIH.
    About Trauma is a site that contains helpful information for professionals and any survivor of a traumatic event. 
    Sidran is an excellent website that offers training, resources and literature.
    Recovery from traumatic experiences is a process. 
     
    Understanding Dissociation
    Dr. Marlene Steinberg offers a helpful description and discussion regarding the nature and types of dissociation. The Mayo clinic provides a shorter article on dissociative disorders.
    International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation is geared toward professionals but holds a great deal of useful information and direction.     
    The Sidran site offers a good explanation of dissociative identity disorder (DID). Recovery from DID takes a long time and may involve integrations of the different parts. Parents with DID can present some problems; DID was formalled called multiple personality disorder.
     
    Learning to Reduce Stress and Manage Anger  
    Stress has many faces and many triggers. Relieving stress and stress management are part of the healing process.
    Stress management techniques can also be helpful.
    Another approach that is based on ancient traditions is called Mindfulness. This is both a technique and philosophy which has the goal of creating a state of alert, focused relaxation by learning to pay attention to thoughts and sensations without making any judgments.
    Anger management is essential to over-all health and mental well-being. 

    Bullying and Trauma  
    Bullying can be traumatic and devastating.
     
    For Military Personnel and Veterans
    A help phoneline for military veterans offers immediate assistance to vets who are experiecing the effects of trauma.
     
    Family Violence
    The Family Justice Center of Erie County 716-558-7233 is located at 237 Main Street, 14th Floor, Buffalo, NY 14203. The center offers help and support for victims of domestic violence and their children. Services are free, and no appointment is necessary. A wide array of agencies, assistance and counseling is available, including medical and legal help, as well as safe homes. In the upper right hand corner of the website is a red "quick escape" tab in case a person needs to leave the website quickly.      
    Signs of an abusive relationship can obvious or subtle.
     
    Sexual Assault / Rape / Sexual Abuse:  
     
    Local Support and Services
    The Child Advocacy Center offers an excellent multi-systems approach for children and adolescents who are victims of sexual abuse, sexual assault and severe physical abuse. As part of Child and Adolescent Treatment Services (CATS), the Child Advocacy Center offers highly trained professional from every field. To learn more, click on "Services" then click on "Lee Gross Anthone Child Advocacy Center (CAC)".  
    Medical Services for those who have been sexually assaulted are available at the following locations:  Buffalo General Hospital, Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital and Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo. SANE nurses (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners) are trained and certified in this specialized area. 
       
    National Organizations
    The National Organization for the Prevention of Rape and Assault offers information and support.  
    Medline Plus offers resources, articles, support, links and other information.
    A national sexual assault online hotline 1-800-656-4673 is offered by RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network).
    Men against Sexual Violence 1-888-772-7227 (24 hour information and referral) is an excellent resource created by men committed to ending sexual violence against men, women and children. 
     
    State Organizations 
    The New York State Coalition against Sexual Assault (hotline for information: 1-800- 942-6906) offers information, education and resources for those working to understand and prevent sexual violence.
     
    Surviving Sexual Assault or Childhood/Adolescent Sexual Abuse 
    Survivors of sexual assault and/or sexual abuse often find themselves dealing with issues many years after the events have occurred. Support and self-help groups abound along with numerous professionals who offer a variety of services. Friends and family of survivors, as well as survivors themselves, can find articles, information resources and strength-based perspectives. Adolescence can be a particularly difficult time for survivors. 
    In addition, to websites listed above, sites with personal stories and advice from non-professional individuals often market books, videos and tapes.  Each survivor (not victim) has to find his/her own truth and walk his/her own journey. Experts and websites may make untrue assumptions and state "facts" that are not grounded in research and do not reflect the experience of the individual. For example, most survivors of childhood or adolescent sexual abuse do not grow up to become sexually abusive. On the other hand, adult sexual abusers almost always have been victimized as children though not necessarily sexually. Special sites also exist for clergy abuse, ritual abuse, male survivors (see below) and gay/lesbian survivors.  Recovery from sexual abuse can take many years; amazingly these difficult and unthinkable experiences can be transformed into foundations of strength and hope.  
     
    Sexual Abuse of males
    Sexual abuse of males is much more common than often assumed. Because it is believed that most sexual abuse is perpetrated on females, sexual abuse of males is a specialized topic. Sexual abuse of males is an educational and professional paper that provides background research and current research as well as tapping into numerous issues. The author also offers a framework for healthy and positive approaches to recovery. Another website has created a space for male survivors to share their stories and artwork. For a description of the types of adult issues that might be related to childhood sexual abuse of males, go to this article.
     
    Recovered memories
    Due to the traumatic nature of sexual abuse, memories can be repressed, sometimes for many years. Recovered memories is a scholarly website that is primarily for professionals but could be useful to any reader who wants to learn about memories of childhood abuse that have been repressed. Questions about false memories are also addressed.   
    Early childhood trauma can be connected to attachment disorders in some individuals; one Buffalo-area treatment center addresses these related attachment disorders.           
     
     
Last Modified on November 16, 2012