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That rush of chemicals impairs the prefrontal cortex, and can take away a victim's ability to think rationally about ways to escape the assault. In response, the victim may dissociate and become immobile, even literally paralyzed with fear, Hopper said.

Dissociation during an assault can affect a victim's attempts to recover.

\"For some individuals, in the immediate experience they are bringing themselves outside of the moment but in the short and long term they can recall what they experienced and memories are very fresh,\" said Palumbo. \"For other individuals with the response of dissociating, their ability to recall directly what they were experiencing might not be as straightforward.\"

She added, \"Or it may be days, weeks or years after the experience that something else in their environment triggers very detailed memories of what happened.\"

What is most important to remember, according to experts, is that there is no single universal response to sexual assault.\"We should not assume that everybody is going to react the same,\" said Beresin. \"We should assume that it is a horrible, shameful, destructive event that has an impact physically, emotionally, psychologically, socially and on one's identity.\"

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