CHOMBA MUSIKA
Lusaka
A PSYCHIATRIST has testified in a case John Nundwe, alias John General, is accused of rape, that married women who are sexually abused are more likely to face mental health challenges compared to those who are unmarried.
Naeem Dalal told Lusaka magistrate Amy MasojaChilangwa that most victims of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) present tonic immobility.
“From our practice here in Zambia, we note that married women are often more severely affected when they are sexually abused by unknown or known men outside their marriage.
“…this is because of the psychological upbringing, beliefs, and cultural teachings that a woman has to be submissive and supportive of her husband. For this reason, married women often have more presentations,” Dr Dalal said.
The doctor narrated how SGBV victims can suffer numbness.
“When an individual is experiencing a sexual trauma, the reactions tend to differ based on the factors – biological, psychological or social.”
Dr Dalal said the most common presentation in over 70 percent of individuals is tonic immobility – an involuntary, reflexive state of temporary paralysis and unresponsiveness.
“This happens because the victim is in a state of psychological shock, and to prevent physical harm to the rest of the body, the brain creates a state of physical numbness.
“Further to that, during the act, the victim also experiences disassociation. This is where the mind does not experience the surrounding environment as they are in a state of shock,” Dr Dalal said.
She said victims also produce endogenous opioids as a defence mechanism.
“…these are painkillers that the brain produces as a survival mechanism for the victim to not feel the trauma.
“These are the real-time psychological and mental health factors an individual being abused experiences,” Dr Dalal said.
He said when a perpetrator is known to the victim, the severity of the mental health consequences are 10 times more.
“…and this, if unsupported, can predispose the individual to self-harm.”
Victims also recall core memory of the event but have difficulties with peripheral memory.
“Core memory will often include facts such as the person involved and the act itself….Peripheral memory includes things like what the person was wearing, the specific facts of time, date, weather and other people around.”
Nundwe is accused of raping a 26-year-old woman in 2023 at her house, where he went to pray for her to cure her childlessness….https://enews.daily-mail.co.zm/welcome/home
