الفهرس 
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Abstract
This thesis aims at discussing the psychological impact of sexual harassment on young adult girls along with the development of their identity. This is carried out through the investigation of two contemporary young adult fiction novels: Speak by Laurie Hals Anderson and Scars by Cheryl Rainfield.
The thesis relies on two psychological theories which are trauma theory and psychosocial development theory. Judith Herman’s book Trauma and Recovery is utilized to analyze the psychological consequences of sexual assault on teenage girls. Herman’s book has various clinical cases for women who were domestically abused and assaulted. Another theory that is used is psychosocial development theory by Erik Erikson. This theory assists in knowing the identity changes that teenage girls might go through after such a trauma.
The thesis is divided into an introduction, and a chapter for addressing the theoretical framework; it also includes two chapters for the analysis of the studied text. The study ends with a conclusion, and the list of references. The introduction gives an overview of different terms that are discussed in the thesis. It defines sexual harassment and shows the important relationship between psychology and literature. It also gives an overview of the features of young adults’ literature and the main features common in this genre. Besides, it introduces the terms bibliotherapy and scriptotherapy.
Chapter one addresses the theoretical framework in which two theories are introduced. The first theory is trauma theory, and the thesis relies on Judith Herman’s book Trauma and Recovery. Herman divides her book into two sections in which the first deals with the symptoms of trauma and PTSD; the second part discusses the methods of recovery from trauma. The second theory highlighted in this chapter is psychosocial development theory by Erik Erikson in which Erikson divides the stages of life into eight stages and each stage has its positive and negative aspects. The thesis focuses on the stage discussing adolescence in which identity confusion is a major problem.
The second chapter entitled “Speak” examines the psychological impact of sexual assault on Melinda, the protagonist of the first novel. Melinda shows all PTSD symptoms such as hyperarousal, intrusion and constriction. The chapter explores the impact of sexual harassment on her identity and the problems she faces in discovering who she is after such trauma. Afterwards, the methods suggested by the novelists are discussed in relation to Herman’s stages. One important method highlighted in both psychological research and the novel is art therapy.
The third chapter entitled “Scars” explores the effect of sexual harassment on Kendra—the protagonist of Scars. The chapter examines the PTSD symptoms that Kendra goes through due to her trauma along with examining her identity problems because of the assault. The chapter introduces the idea of self-mutilation used by some trauma patients to overcome their trauma whereby pain is used to curb another pain. The chapter also investigates the methods of recovery to overcome the traumatic incident.
This analytical study is followed by the conclusion, which aims to summarize the entire thesis and draw conclusions based on the analysis. Findings show that most young adult girls who have been sexually harassed suffered from PTSD. In both novels, the protagonists’ identity has been affected by the traumatic event and they both suffer from identity confusion. The thesis clearly shows the strong relation between literature and psychology. Literature is concerned with the human psyche and mind as well as psychology which studies the human psyche and mind. After analyzing both novels, the protagonists showed the same symptoms of trauma mentioned by Judith Herman. In both novels, art is a strong tool that enabled them to overcome their trauma because art draws attention to that which is being silenced.