Letter: The trauma that follows rape

Sir: I don't know exactly what Dr Thompson read (Letters, 3 January) that I was supposed to have said about rape, but I can assure him that the quotations attributed to me were not true. I did not say, for example, that "long-term psychological disorder is an inevitable consequence of rape". All I said was that when something so traumatic happens you are not the same afterwards as you were before. And I certainly did not make the ridiculous statement that treatment has to be given daily for a year.

My original answers to a TV company's questions had subsequently been taken up by radio and newspapers. The passing on of information by such means can produce considerable distortion.

Professor JOAN FREEMAN

London W1