Sexual assault and mental health

Sexual assault is any unwanted sexual behaviour. If it’s sexual and unwanted, it’s not okay.

If someone has sexual contact with you that you don’t want, that is sexual assault. If someone makes you do sexual things that you don’t want to do, that is sexual assault. And sexual assault also includes any sexual act that you are not able to consent to, for example if you are asleep, unconscious, or under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Sexual assault can take place in public or in private. It can be carried out by a stranger, but is more often done by someone you know - a friend, family member, or partner.

Sexual behaviour that makes you feel uncomfortable or frightened is sexual assault. This can include:

• touching, grabbing or kissing your body, even through clothes
• rape (penetration of the anus, vagina or mouth with a finger, penis or object)
• being forced to watch or engage in pornography, including being made to pose for photographs or videos
• being made to perform sexual acts, including stimulating another person or masturbating
• another person showing you their genitals

Sexual assault can happen to anyone.

Sexual assault is never, ever your fault.

Everyone has the right to feel safe, and to make decisions about their own body. Sexual violence is an abuse of power. No person deserves to be sexually assaulted. A person who commits sexual assault is responsible for their own behaviour.

How common is sexual assault?

One in 6 women and one in 25 men have been sexually assaulted at least once after the age of 15.

Reporting to Police has increased by 30% in recent years, but this is likely to be because more people are reporting - not because sexual assault is happening more.

Most perpetrators (75-83%) are known to the victim. 97% of those convicted for sexual assault are male.

Research has consistently shown that victim-survivors have higher rates of mental health conditions and suicide than people who have not experienced sexual harm. This is true of people who have experienced sexual harm as an adult, and of those who have experienced sexual harm as a child.

The Australian Child Maltreatment Study, published in 2023, found that Australians who experienced child sexual abuse were 2.7 times more likely to have self-harmed and 2.3 times more likely to have attempted suicide in the prior 12 months.

The 2016 Personal Safety Study revealed that almost 2 in 3 women who had experienced sexual assault by a male perpetrator in the previous 10 years experienced anxiety or fear in the year after the incident.

What is the impact of sexual assault?

Each survivor reacts to sexual violence in their own unique way. It is important to respect each person’s choices and style of coping with this traumatic event.

There is no right or wrong way to feel after a sexual assault. But common responses include:

• Shock/disbelief – “I never thought this could happento me”
• Fear – “Will the perpetrator hurt me again?”
• Anger – “How dare they do this to me?”
• Shame – “How can I show my face again?”
• Guilt/self-blame – “If only I hadn’t…”
• Betrayal – “But I trusted them”
• Numbness – “I feel so hollow”
• Worry/anxiety about the future – “Will my life ever be the same?”

Some common symptoms and effects of trauma are: flashbacks, nightmares, mood swings, insomnia, exhaustion, loss of appetite, over-eating, feeling numb or spaced out, avoidance of people and places, anxiety and panic attacks, depression, risk-taking behaviour, self-harming, and use of alcohol or drugs.

What are the connections between sexual assault and mental health?

Sexual assault can have a significant impact on the mental health of a victim-survivor.

Those impacts can range from short-term anxiety or depression, through to long-term post-traumatic stress disorder or suicidality.

A report published by the New South Wales Mental Health Commission reviewed more than 90 research articles about the connections between sexual assault and mental health. They revealed that:

• childhood sexual abuse leads to an increased risk of mental illness diagnosis in adulthood
• sexual assault or abuse in adulthood leads to an increased risk of mental illness diagnosis in adulthood•

Another important finding is that a negative response to a disclosure of assault or abuse increases the risk of mental illness, including PTSD and depression.