here in NY the retelling of the abuse is a way for the victim to reconnect with their feelings and fully process what happened to them because most rape victims have a Post Traumatic Stress symptom called lack of affect. this is where due to the rape the victim can no longer show appropriate emotions, shut off their feelings, stuff their feelings/emotions and end up being able to tell what happened with out any emotions..its actually quite common for victims of rape to talk about the abuse as if it was just another day in their life, nothing unusual happened kind of tone/affect/emotions. so treatment for rape/sexual assault and other trauma's usually do include having the victim retell their story so that they can reconnect with their feelings/emotions and deal appropriately with their emotions/feelings.

here in NY exposure therapy is purposely exposing yourself to something you fear and have panic attacks over. example a person who has panic attacks when encountering the dog down the street can conquer their fear and anxiety by purposely being exposed to the dog for as long as they can handle then backing off and repeating the exposure. we do not do this kind of therapy with rape victims because here that would fall under retraumatizing a victim basically causing them to become more unstable, and have more PTSD symptoms. the goals here in NY is you get the client more stable and not do more harm to them in the process.

that said I do know of some rape victims who will purposely place their self in situations where they will be retraumatized through being raped again or having to re count what happened to them over and over again. for those I know its an addicting thing to get to the point where you can talk about what happened and how powerful that makes a person feel. we do encourage victims here in NY to feel their feelings even if it means they need to recount what happened over and over again but there is a point where it is very unhealthy for someone to stay stuck in that spot where they constantly need to recount what happened to them over and over and over and over....which is why when we see victims at the crisis center falling into this trap we redirect them to focusing on the present...how does that make you feel today to be able to tell me what happened? you told me your story today, thank you very much, now what do you need from me today? What was the purpose of retelling me today? basically getting the victim to understand yeas its ok to tell about it but you also need to be able to live in the present moment too, not just stay stuck in that moment of being raped. thatas how we deal with victims here at the crisis center where I work.

my own therapist does something similar.. when I have told something so much its lost its point or become redundant she says...ok, now what? how does that apply to your life today?