TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2014//
TI  - Examining the scientific validity of rape trauma syndrome
JO  - Psychiatry, psychology and law
A1  - O'Donohue, William
A1  - Carlson, Gwendolyn C.
A1  - Benuto, Lorraine T.
A1  - Bennett, Natalie M.
SP  - 858
EP  - 876
VL  - 21
IS  - 6
N2  - Rape trauma syndrome (RTS) was first described by Burgess and Holmstrom (1974) who argued that there was little information that described the physical and psychological effects of rape, associated therapy and provisions for protection of the victim from further psychological harm. Since then, there have been several critiques of RTS and empirical evidence exists that RTS is not generally accepted by the relevant scientific community. Despite this, RTS is still used in courts. As such, in this article, we comprehensively evaluated RTS and determined that it is vague and imprecise, its evidential status is questionable, it is inconsistent with the most common sequelae of trauma, it ignores important mediating variables and it may not be culturally sensitive. In light of these critiques, we recommend no further use of this model in courts or in clinical practice.<p />
LA  - en
SN  - 1321-8719
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2014.918067
ID  - ref1
ER  -