Wrenching testimony from Christine Blasey Ford alleging that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school triggered painful emotions in others who have lived through such assaults, according to numerous reports in social and traditional media.
One of those upset by Ford’s testimony, which was given at a September 27, 2018 hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, was trauma researcher Karestan Koenen of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, herself a rape victim.
“My chest tightened, my stomach tied in knots, and my body went into a guarded state,” said Koenen, professor of psychiatric epidemiology, in a September 28 article in Everyday Health. “It was a physical fear reaction.”
Koenen called the testimony one of the largest public “triggerings” of modern times. Triggering happens when a victim is reminded of a traumatic event and re-experiences the pain and humiliation of that trauma.
Read the Everyday Health article: Ford-Kavanaugh Hearing Triggers Trauma in Sexual Assault Victims
Learn more
Helping victims of sexual violence overcome PTSD (Harvard Chan School feature)
Sexual assault survivors urged to combat election stress by getting involved (Harvard Chan School news)