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Gundersen sexual abuse therapist says Kavanaugh accuser’s delay in reporting is normal
Accusations against Brett Kavanaugh and sentencing of Bill Cosby have brought up one main question above others: Why it takes years for victims to relay their story?
Rhonda Bryhn has some answers, as the occurrence isn’t unusual. Bryhn is with the sexual abuse counseling program at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse.
“Delayed disclosure, we call it, is the norm,” Bryhn said. “A lot of people wait years, or even decades, to disclose. About a third suggest that they never plan to tell anyone.”
Bryhn added that victims often fear retaliation and blame if they come forward, and think letting it go is the better option.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, sat in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington on Thursday for over four hours.
She fielded questions about her allegations that Kavanaugh, who has been nominated for the Supreme Court, sexually assaulted her at a party in the early 1980s.
Ford testified she didn’t reveal the assault for several years. Bryhn, a psycho-therapist, says some victims try to block it from their memories.
“Our brains, usually without our conscious awareness, try to lower this distress and protect us a bit — lower pain levels by distancing ourselves from what happened,” Bryhn said.
Bryhn works with sexual assault and abuse victims. She says they fear harsh reaction, which is one reason why they don’t say anything for several years.
“Being blamed for the assault,” Bryhn said. “Having it suggested that the victim somehow brought about or caused the assault. Having it be suggested that the victim lied.”
The vote to confirm Kavanaugh on to the full senate was planned for this morning.
Rhonda Bryhn
September 28, 2018 at 4:01 pm
Upon reading this summary of my interview, I want to clarify two matters: One, I never spoke about Dr. Ford’s disclosures or their timing specifically; rather I was describing delayed disclosure generally, across victims. Second, regarding the statement “it’s possible she blocked it from her memory”: I was not suggesting anything about Dr.Ford’s psychology, as I do not know her. Also, those weren’t my exact words. They do, however, speak to the fact that victims of sexual assault and all traumas often try to forget what happened or keep its painful and distressing reality blocked out, so to speak, from everyday awareness. This is a means of coping. It allows survivors of trauma and other very disturbing events a way of continuing to function or “carry on” in their everyday lives.