No sexual assault cases are raised
Psychologists sound the alarm that sexual assaults are more common against women and children in Armenia than the official statistics state.
"I can't state the relativity of the phenomenon in Armenia in percentages because it is hidden, but it exists. The main assaults are against people who know each other and people who don't," says Head of the Center for Psychological Services at the Pedagogical University after Kh. Abovyan, psychologist Mariam Mehrabyan.
The psychologist says Armenian women who leave for work abroad are mainly the ones assaulted.
Psychologist at school N127 of Yerevan Naira Harutyunyan mentioned whereas the indicator of physical assault against children can be revealed (7%), which doesn't correspond to reality either, this is not the case for people who have been sexually assaulted.
Psychologists say certain signs can allow one to guess that a child has been sexually assaulted.
"In my practice, I have met children who have started showing passivity and have lost confidence in adults. Boys may show aggression," mentioned Naira Harutyunyan.
The psychologist says group therapy is efficient for working with such children so that the child sees that he or she is not the only one with that problem.
