She struggles with the schools, friends which abandoned her and see her as a weirdo. Melinda keeps recalling the details of the past situation, it becomes clear that a date rape occurred. No one has offered her support in order to deal with the psychological consequences. Eventually her art teacher Mr. Freeman (Steve Zahn) reaches out, helping her develop ways to express herself.
What is Rape-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?.
Terr (1992) defined Rape-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder as a reaction to being exposed to an event which is outside the range of normal human experience. Sometimes it acknowledges as Rape Trauma Syndrome. It can be concluded that after being sex-abused, the victims will have this kind of disorder. Rape is not just unwanted sex, it is highly traumatic experience and like other serious trauma, it has negative effects on those who survive it (Holstorm, 1978). Many people experience physical, psychological and behavioural problems after suffering serious trauma. This condition is a normal reaction to abnormal stress. They may act and speak differently. Addressing PTSD, the caregivers such as family and friends play a critical role in the survivor's physiological. .
Psychological Symptoms of Rape Trauma.
Sandra L. Bloom has classified psychological symptoms of rape trauma in her book Trauma Theory (1999):.
- Flashbacks: The sudden feeling that the rape is happening again, which makes the survivor very frightened and upset. In the movie Speaks, the main character who has been sexual abused in the summer party, Melinda, keeps recalling the memories when she was having party and met a guy, Andy, who raped her in a car. Having flashback so many times, Melinda becomes mad and behaves abnormally. For example, in one scene she draws a woman having suicide, Melinda draws the woman hung on the tree. The other scene is when Melinda is asked by her art teacher to draw a tree, she draws with anger.