Role of Psychological Makeup in Psychological Rehabilitation of Acid Attack Victims

Abstract

From eve-teasing to more aggressive forms of sexual violence, subjection of women to sexual violence has been on the rise. One heinous form of sexual violence is the acid attack. Acid attack refers to the intentional act of throwing acid on an individual with the intent of harming, torturing, disfiguring, injuring, or killing them. Despite an increase in the number of reported cases of acid attacks, the initial nonavailability of strict legislatures and underreporting of the crime have led to gross underrepresentation of the acid attack victims in the scientific literature. Moreover, most researches focus on the impact of acid attack and not on the process of recovery for these victims. Hence, this paper attempts to explore the role of psychological makeup in the psychological rehabilitation of acid attack victims. This study adopted the homogeneous purposive sampling method. The sample consisted of 30 female victims of acid attack between the age group of 18 to 25 years. The narratives of these victims focusing on their experiences before and after the incidence were collected. Findings of this study indicate that psychological makeup is an important variable that is responsible for the successful recovery from trauma. Nearly all of the victims have shown symptoms of maladaptive psychological makeup after facing a violent event. However, after participation in the rehabilitation program, the victims moved from having maladaptive psychological makeup toward having adaptive psychological makeup. The emergent subthemes comprising maladaptive psychological makeup consists of cognitive distortions, hopelessness, shame, and suicidal ideation; and for adaptive psychological makeup, these are positive life orientation, belief in the just world, and self-efficacy. The insights of the study will contribute to an improved understanding of the recovery process of the acid attack victims and help in planning intervention protocols for them.

Study of Resilience, Happiness and Life Satisfaction Among Acid Attack Surviors

“…Some of these attacks happen due to rejection for sexual advances or proposal of relationships by women. This shows that women is considered to be an asset till the time her beauty is intact, which when damaged leads her to be considered her as useless (Mittal et al, 2020).…”

“…For any kind of traumatic events, resilient people have less damaged pattern of selfefficacy for difficult events (Caffo & Belaise, 2003). Adaptive psychological mindset often makes them resilient, whereas maladaptive mindset often leads them to feel hopeless, suicidal and unhappy (Mittal et al, 2020).…”

“…However, in acid attack survivors all of these remain a grey area, as their social interactions, skills and mental health are deeply impacted by their inabilities, post their attack. This often leads them to develop maladaptive thought patters, leading them to have thoughts of suicide (Mittal et al, 2020).…”

The influence of social support in the rehabilitation of acid attack victims: A qualitative inquiry

“…With the rising number of cases, it has further become crucial to develop an understanding of the nature of aftermath of acid attack for the victims. Also, despite lasting physical impact and severe psychological consequences for the victims, the discourse about victims of acid attack remains largely incomplete because of the selective focus on physical injuries, treatment and seeking punishment for the offenders (Mittal, Singh & Verma, 2020). Mannan, Ghani, Clarke, and Butler (2007) suggest that the psychosocial impact of acid attack is underreported.…”

“…Very few research studies have explored the psychosocial consequences of acid attack (e.g., Begum, 2004; Yeasmeen, 2015), and very little literature attempt to explore the social outcomes of acid attack for the victims. Most of the books written on the issue of acid attack tend to narrate the stories of the victims but hardly provide any insight into their coping mechanisms (e.g., Kapur, 2016; Mittal, Singh & Verma, 2020). Hence, the present work attempts to explore the psychosocial correlates of acid attack for its victims and to explore the role of social support in the recovery and coping process of acid attack victims.…”