Sexual Violence, Dissociation, and Inequality

Book excerpt: Sexual Violence, Dissociation, and Inequality is a book about traumatic memory—or how lived trauma is repeated by victims as if happening again. The author, internationally renowned psychiatrist Muriel Salmona, lays out a convincing argument for the ways in which victims are neurologically compelled to relive trauma and how, with proper treatment, they can fully heal. Informed by decades of clinical practice, research, and activism, Salmona explains how victims’ behaviors are rooted in neurology as normal responses to abnormal situations. In contrast to a climate of victim-blaming denial, Salmona explains how grave the violation of victims’ human rights truly is and what to do about it in terms of care and prevention. She explains in clear language how to reconstruct victims’ narratives, which are often clouded by traumatic amnesia, and thereby reconnect parts of the brain that were severed during the traumatic event. This is a guide for professionals who work with survivors, for survivors themselves, and for anyone committed to understanding and reducing violence and inequality.