Neurobiology of Trauma and Sexual Assault (Video Training)
Abstract
This training for investigators and law enforcement reviews studies on the effects of assault and trauma on victims’ brains and explains why victims may not have “actively” resisted, attempted to escape, or screamed. The training covers how fear and stress elicit freeze responses and how the amygdala (coordinates survival reflexes and regulates the fear circuitry) can override the functions of the pre-frontal cortex (controls higher level thinking and reasoning, creates memories, and regulates stress). Dr. Hopper discusses self-protection habits and perservation, where victims continue to follow ineffective behaviors because the prefrontal cortex is not activating and victims rely on past responses that worked in different circumstances (such as habits used in the past to deal with childhood abuse). Victims may also dissociate, suffer tonic immobility (can’t move or speak after failed struggle), or collapsed immobility (fainting). Dr. Hopper explains the brain responses behind “counter-intuitive” behaviors of victims and offers clues that police, investigators, and law enforcement should listen for in victim and perpetrator statements to confirm assault took place. He contrasts what is happening in the victim’s brain with what is happening in the perpetrator’s brain, as the perpetrator is able to engage in planned and practiced behavior. (Dr. Jim Hopper is a consultant and trainer, who works as a Teaching Associate at Harvard Medical School and at the Cambridge Health Alliance, and is a Therapy Team Member at the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute.) (CVRL Abstract)
Description
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Video
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Keywords
Webinar, Synthesis, Research Into Practice, Crime Reporting, Assessment, Trauma-informed, Rape, Sexual Violence, Abuse, Psychological Consequences, Blame, Blaming, Victimization, Barriers to Reporting
Citation
Hopper, Jim. (2015). Neurobiology of Trauma and Sexual Assault (Video Training). 1 hour 50 minutes.