How do survivors of sexual violence cope with trauma?

Why didn’t you run? How did you not fight back? Did you say no?

These are some of the questions often asked of survivors of sexual violence. And they can lead to judgement and even accusations of victim blaming. But as recent research shows, there are natural, scientifically validated reasons why victims don’t react the way we perceive they should.

“A lot of research is telling us that a severe traumatic event can cause major changes to the brain,” says Carla Bertsch, the University of Calgary sexual violence support advocate. “When you become frightened you can lose the ability to do what you think you might or should do.”

Bertsch is hosting an hour-long session called Trauma and Sexual Violence on Friday as part of Sex Week, hosted by the Students’ Union, the SU Wellness Centre and the Women’s Resource Centre. During her presentation, she’ll draw from research by clinical psychologists and psychiatrists in the United States and Canada to explain the neurobiology of trauma.

The research shows that the old fight or flight response is more myth than reality. While humans, like other animals have responses to grave threats hardwired in their brains, the response to the threat of trauma is often to freeze or even black out. In the animal kingdom, this is essentially playing dead in the hope that a predator will lose interest and move on. But this does not work against human sexual predators.

When experiencing a traumatic event, the brain tends to become hyper-focused on small details related to survival and so simple questions about the time of day, the exact location and even the colour of the perpetrator’s hair aren’t recalled by the survivor because the victim honestly doesn’t remember those details.

This information is crucial for investigators who question sexual assault victims because it means they need to re-think their questions and how they interpret the answers, says Bertsch.

“When an investigator asks a sexual assault victim what time of day the assault took place and the victim says she doesn’t know, it can sound like she’s not being truthful,” she says. “But 30 years later she’ll still remember the smell of his breath or the deodorant the perpetrator was wearing. In the animal kingdom, that would help you avoid the predator in the future, but when it comes to sexual assault, it only adds to the torment of the survivor because that smell will instantly take you back to the horror of the incident.”

According to Bertsch, the impacts of trauma can be felt in the brain, body and sense of self, and to work effectively with victims of sexual violence, police need a better understanding of brain circuitries affected by fear and trauma. “There is a lot of new, emerging science on all of this and it can help us better understand a survivor’s behaviour after a traumatic incident. It can help investigators ask the right questions and better support survivors.”

Carla Bertsch will present Trauma and Sexual Violence on Friday, Feb. 9 from noon to 1 p.m. in the Hamlet Room in Students’ Union Conference Rooms in Mac Hall. Admission is free.

Read more about Sex Week. Read more about the University of Calgary’s sexual violence support services.