November 7, 2021 Call with Dr. Rocchio AUSA • People who are sexually assaulted have higher likelihood of having PTSD • PTSD is an acute disorder — some of the symptoms involve distress when encounter reminders + efforts to avoid • Leap: it's highly unlikely they would engage in ongoing relationship/wear clothing/recreate sexual assault event (re Dietz's portion of defense expert notice) o No evidence to support that leap. That conclusion is not in the article o What is a sexual assault survivor "unnecessarily recreating a sexual assault event" — they aren't the ones recreating the events. Not clear what that means. Sexual assault is not created by the victim. o Ignores an entire body of literature regarding sexual assault in the context of an ongoing relationship, which is the vast majority of CSA cases. ■ Whether adult-child or adult-adult, b/c of the attachment, not at all unusual to maintain a relationship ■ Both of those relationships also involve elements of coercive control, so perpetrator keeps victim in relationship -> pattern of neutral or positive interactions fulfilling some need interspersed with episodes of violence/assault/etc. • So control is not fully with the victim ■ Pimp-prostitute literature and betrayal trauma literature • PTSD can also include engaging in impulsive, high-risk behaviors. CDC data/psych lit, particularly during adolescence: engaging in risky sexual behavior is common consequence of CSA • PTSD: contact causes distress, but it's not necessarily true that that leads to behavioral avoidance. Lots of reasons people stay in distressing situations. In order to meet the criteria for PTSD, you need at least one of the Criterion C behaviors, but "efforts to avoid" doesn't mean you don't have interactions with the perpetrator o Keeping up the relationship can be a form of minimization and denial. Can relate to self-blame/shame, which is another PTSD component. May also be convinced it's not abusive at