Group Therapy: An Alternative Treatment Approach for Rape Victims

Abstract

The current study describes a pilot project in which rape victims were treated in group therapy. Objective measures of psychological disturbance before and after 10 weeks of treatment revealed the victims experienced substantially reduced anxiety, fear, and hostility levels. This finding was independent of the amount of time between the rape and the initiation of treatment. The data also suggest that some victims do not benefit and may even wo^rsen with treatment.