Common Reactions to Sexual Violence

Survivors suffer a great deal of physical and emotional trauma as a result of a sexual assault. Each survivor of sexual assault responds uniquely, and the recovery process is different for each individual. While there are individual differences to survivors' experiences of sexual assault, there are common patterns to trauma recovery that are normative and natural.

The following table shows various reactions to a sexual assault. It is not a comprehensive listing, but rather a sampling of common post-assault symptoms. Survivors can expect to experience some or many of these symptoms in varying degrees during the recovery process.

Type of Reaction	Possible Post-Assault Symptoms
Physical Emotional Cognitive Social	Please click on the links in the left column of this table to view various types of reactions to sexual violence.

Click here to download a PDF with all reaction examples listed on one page.