A lot of the people that we see are many years past the trauma. Rape victims, Astin says, often live confined lives because of fear. We don't want the memory controlling the victim's life. They must process it and get on with their lives. After three months, experts say, the symptoms run the risk of becoming chronic if there is not some sort of intervention.
Several symptoms characterize post-traumatic stress disorder.
Nightmares and flashbacks can bring up painful feelings and even cause physiological reactions. Although post-traumatic stress is often associated with war veterans, the symptoms are the same across traumas, experts say. The same type of eye motion occurs during the rapid eye movement, or REM, portion of sleep, which, Astin says, is associated with emotional processing. I was highly skeptical at first. It is not a miracle cure, but there is definitely a lot of validity.