 Rape is only one event that can cause PTSD, others include military combat, accidents, and violent personal assault.  Symptoms of PTSD are severe anxiety, fear, and stress.  Signs to look for if you think you may have contracted PTSD may be reoccurring memories and thoughts of your ordeal; and if you feel detached from others.  The severity of this can differ from person to person.  Seeing a therapist and taking medication may be two helpful actions of treatment.  In Speak, Melinda showed symptoms of PTSD when she saw Andy Evans in and out of school. She compared herself to a frightened bunny rabbit that tries to remain invisible around Andy Evans.

 Victims may feel an attachment to their abusers’ known as Stockholm Syndrome.  The victim could be helping and supporting their abuser.  Both victims and abusers can have positive feelings toward one another.  Throughout the stages of Stockholm Syndrome the victim will distance themselves from their pain, and manipulates the abuser into being less dangerous.  Then the abuser starts to share personal information with their victim to form a bond, finally the victim has to learn how to not disassociate themselves from their emotions and not focus on their abuser.

 DID is a mental effect that causes a person to have two or more different states of personality.  It takes control of the persons actions and how they behave.  This is similar to MPD, Multiple Personality Disorder, when someone has two different personalities within them that take over the body in different situations.

 Self-Harm and Self-Injury is when someone deliberately injured oneself for relief after being sexually assaulted.  Throughout Speak Melinda bit her lip until sores formed because it helped her to cope with the painful feelings post rape.  This behavior can lead to other things like low self-esteem, self-hatred, and a tendency to isolate oneself.  In Melinda’s case these all effected her, she was very insecure, and made herself a haven out of an old janitors closet that had gone unused.

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