Sexual violence haunts women with vivid memories decades later

Washington: Researchers suggest that women who are sexually assaulted experience more vivid memories than women coping with the aftermath of other traumatic, life-altering events not associated with sexual violence even decades later.
The research, published in the journal, ‘Frontiers in Neuroscience,’ found that women who had suffered from sexual violence, even those who were not diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, had more intense memories — even decades after the violence occurred — that are difficult, if not impossible to forget.
“To some extent, it is not surprising that these memories relate to more feelings of depression and anxiety because these women remember what happened and think about it a lot,” said Tracey Shors, professor in the Department of Psychology and Center for Collaborative Neuroscience in the School of Arts and Sciences who co-authored the study.
“But these feelings and thoughts are usually associated with PTSD and most women in our study who experienced these vivid memories did not suffer from PTSD, which is generally associated with more intense mental and physical reactions,” said Shors.
The study included 183 college-aged women between the ages of 18-39. Sixty-four women reported that they were victims of sexual violence while 119 did not have a history of sexual violence. Less than 10 per cent were on anti-anxiety or antidepressant medication.
The women with a history of sexual violence reported stronger memories with specific details that included seeing the event clearly in their mind. They reported having a harder time forgetting the incident and believed it to be a significant part of their life story, according to the research.