<p>Rehabilitative care for young survivors of sexual abuse should start immediately after their trauma comes to light. Delays can impair their psychosocial development, experts say.</p>.<p>A 10-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a school principal in Varthur on Thursday. The principal took her to his house on the school premises and committed the crime. Though the survivor has dyslexia, she could relate the details of the assault to her mother. The police have booked the principal under the POCSO Act and are checking if he has preyed on other students from the school.</p>.Do not summon children to police stations to record statements, Child rights panel tells Kerala police.<p><strong>Repercussions</strong></p><p>Psychologist Afifa Kauser says sexual abuse takes away a child’s sense of safety and power over his/her body, which, may impact a child’s ability to forge relationships, engage in intimacy or be able to trust growing up. The rehabilitation care should, thus, be designed to restore this aspect of trust.</p>.<p>Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is commonly seen among survivors of violence and is marked by flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety. A child may also slip into depression or indulge in self-blame, self-harm, and social withdrawal or grow up to be impulsive, have problematic sexualised behaviour, or take to substance abuse.</p>.<p>“The nature of these psychosocial concerns depends on the nature of sexual abuse, methods used by the abuser to groom the child, temperament of the child, parenting style, etc,” says Ashwini N V, founder-director of an NGO that works to prevent interpersonal violence.</p>.<p>Often, the aftermath is more traumatic for a child, says Kavita Jangan, an additional professor of psychiatric social work in the child and adolescent psychiatry department at Nimhans.</p>.<p>She explains, “Parents become hostile, or depressed themselves. Families break up because the perpetrator was among them. The school refuses to take the child back because of the negative press they got. Teachers don’t know how to talk to such children. A mother told me that seven-eight doctors held the hands and legs of her five-year-old daughter for medical examination. The girl is terrified of doctors now. From police to lawyers, sometimes their way of questioning is not child-friendly.” While she says POCSO has laid sensitive practices, they are not followed in spirit everywhere.</p>.<p><strong>Recovery</strong></p><p>It is possible for children to overcome the trauma but the recovery depends on the nature of abuse, individual temperament, family and institutional support, or a combination. The intensity of trauma also differs from child to child. Some struggle to face life, some channelise it to do public good, like becoming advocates to fight for justice, says school counsellor Hannah Awayz.</p>.<p>She says play therapy is an ideal intervention because children don’t have the vocabulary to verbalise their emotions. Play therapy helps children express themselves by using toys, role-playing, and games.</p>.<p><strong>Support for family</strong></p><p>The rehabilitation must also cover the child’s family and their emotional well-being. “They must not worry about people’s opinion,” Hannah comments on the ‘shame’ that hangs around sexual abuse.</p><p>Such incidents can also trigger traumatic experiences suffered by parents themselves in the past and would, thus, require counselling, she adds.</p><p>Overall, rehabilitation of a child sexual abuse survivor should at least involve a paediatrician, play therapist, a counselor or therapist for the family.</p>.<p>080-4611007 (Nimhans); 1800-123-786868 (Sumunum); 76397 41916 (Sahodari); 84229 84528 (Samaritans); 7676602602 (Parivarthan); 080-65000111 (Sahai) </p>
<p>Rehabilitative care for young survivors of sexual abuse should start immediately after their trauma comes to light. Delays can impair their psychosocial development, experts say.</p>.<p>A 10-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a school principal in Varthur on Thursday. The principal took her to his house on the school premises and committed the crime. Though the survivor has dyslexia, she could relate the details of the assault to her mother. The police have booked the principal under the POCSO Act and are checking if he has preyed on other students from the school.</p>.Do not summon children to police stations to record statements, Child rights panel tells Kerala police.<p><strong>Repercussions</strong></p><p>Psychologist Afifa Kauser says sexual abuse takes away a child’s sense of safety and power over his/her body, which, may impact a child’s ability to forge relationships, engage in intimacy or be able to trust growing up. The rehabilitation care should, thus, be designed to restore this aspect of trust.</p>.<p>Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is commonly seen among survivors of violence and is marked by flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety. A child may also slip into depression or indulge in self-blame, self-harm, and social withdrawal or grow up to be impulsive, have problematic sexualised behaviour, or take to substance abuse.</p>.<p>“The nature of these psychosocial concerns depends on the nature of sexual abuse, methods used by the abuser to groom the child, temperament of the child, parenting style, etc,” says Ashwini N V, founder-director of an NGO that works to prevent interpersonal violence.</p>.<p>Often, the aftermath is more traumatic for a child, says Kavita Jangan, an additional professor of psychiatric social work in the child and adolescent psychiatry department at Nimhans.</p>.<p>She explains, “Parents become hostile, or depressed themselves. Families break up because the perpetrator was among them. The school refuses to take the child back because of the negative press they got. Teachers don’t know how to talk to such children. A mother told me that seven-eight doctors held the hands and legs of her five-year-old daughter for medical examination. The girl is terrified of doctors now. From police to lawyers, sometimes their way of questioning is not child-friendly.” While she says POCSO has laid sensitive practices, they are not followed in spirit everywhere.</p>.<p><strong>Recovery</strong></p><p>It is possible for children to overcome the trauma but the recovery depends on the nature of abuse, individual temperament, family and institutional support, or a combination. The intensity of trauma also differs from child to child. Some struggle to face life, some channelise it to do public good, like becoming advocates to fight for justice, says school counsellor Hannah Awayz.</p>.<p>She says play therapy is an ideal intervention because children don’t have the vocabulary to verbalise their emotions. Play therapy helps children express themselves by using toys, role-playing, and games.</p>.<p><strong>Support for family</strong></p><p>The rehabilitation must also cover the child’s family and their emotional well-being. “They must not worry about people’s opinion,” Hannah comments on the ‘shame’ that hangs around sexual abuse.</p><p>Such incidents can also trigger traumatic experiences suffered by parents themselves in the past and would, thus, require counselling, she adds.</p><p>Overall, rehabilitation of a child sexual abuse survivor should at least involve a paediatrician, play therapist, a counselor or therapist for the family.</p>.<p>080-4611007 (Nimhans); 1800-123-786868 (Sumunum); 76397 41916 (Sahodari); 84229 84528 (Samaritans); 7676602602 (Parivarthan); 080-65000111 (Sahai) </p>