She was a 17-year-old high school student when she was drugged, raped and impregnated by a college freshman she knew.

The New York woman woke up with her bra pulled up and her pants pulled down. The man who gave her the beer that made her sick was lying next to her.

It wasn't until she went to the doctor a month later that the girl, previously a virgin, understood what had happened.

She was pregnant. The worst part, she says, was the abortion.

A week of news about sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, culminating Thursday in the congressional hearing at which both Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified, has brought all of the memories rushing back.

"I have listened to every second and cried and felt anxious and angry," says the woman, now 40.

The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) warned on its website that it was "experiencing unprecedented wait times for our online chat." RAINN's sexual assault hotline had a 147 percent increase in calls over its normal volume, RAINN estimated.

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Clinical psychologist Melissa Sporn says some people are able to "compartmentalize and push negative experiences into a place far from their consciousness."

But even they have had trouble escaping the round-the-clock news of sexual assault.

"I think, to some degree, we are all triggered by the news these days," says Sporn, who practices in McLean, Virginia. "But for those with abuse histories it is a barrage of reminders and alerting stimuli."

Her advice: "Know that it is OK to take a break from media and technology. Sometimes just hitting the off button can enable your system to recharge and allow you to exhale."

For one 50-something California woman, it was taking sanitary napkins off a grocery store shelf for her middle school daughter this summer that triggered a 40-year-old memory of an attempted sexual assault.

She cried uncontrollably in the car as she recalled that her older, teenage male attackers backed off only when they saw she had her period.

In a way, the woman says, she has found the news this week to be healing, because so many people have condemned sexual assault. Still, the news has triggered her once-suppressed memories

"The thought of calling out the guys who did this to me is overwhelming," says the woman. "Calling out a judge up for Supreme Court is astounding, especially in this political climate."

USA TODAY does not name victims of sexual assault.