Nowadays, sexual abuse towards women is a very important issue. A short TV serie entitled “unbelievable”, has been produced to illustrate this topic. Marie Alder, the main character, has been raped during the night and is accused of lying about this sexual assault in order to get more attention. She’s even been hounded by the inspectors, pressuring her to withdraw her complain. Also, the serie puts forward the journey of two female detectives struggling against sexual abusers. More than that, it shows how the police takes sexual abuse inquiries in charge. Finally, it brings at the forefront rape stigma from police officers.
In the scenario, police officers don’t take Marie Alder’s story into account. As a matter of fact, she’s staggered and can’t remember facts in chronological order. She also forgets some details. Even us, the viewers, can sometimes be lost between truth and lie.
Throughout Marie’s story, we notice psychotraumatic symptoms, such as psychic numbing and dissociation (like dissociative amnesia).
First of all, psychic numbing corresponds to a disconnection state between the body and the mind, these latter detached from reality. Indeed, people suffering from this feel anaesthetizied and are unable to react as much physically as mentally. A lot of victims say: “ I didn’t give up fighting but I felt like my body couldn’t move.” We actually see that in the serie, when Marie was frightened during the assault, she didn’t seem to fight against the abuser. In the following days, Marie experiences such psychic numbing that she seems apathetic and emotionless concerning her rape. Her behavior brings her relatives to doubt the veracity of what she said happened to her. One of her foster mother even says that she’s lying because she smiles all the time, so her story can’t be true.
Second of all, we notice dissociation in Marie’s behavior. It is a state of mind that keeps reality at a distance because it becomes unbearable. This defence mechanism is frequently encountered amongst traumatized victims. It allows them to handle, either temporarily or permanently a psychic traumatism. This process is illustrated in “Unbelievable”. Thus, during the sexual assault, we can see Marie looking at a picture frame of her playing at the beach, reminding her of her last vacation. We then understand that Marie is trying to psychologically escape from what’s happening. Therefore she experiences psychological detachment by thinking of being on that beach again.
Finally, viewers could also be surprised by Marie’s behavior during the interrogations. In fact, she seems not to remember anything or even be confused whether it really happened or it is part of her imagination. This is what we call dissociative amnesia. The latter is frequently seen amongst victim of violence. It corresponds to an incapacity to remember important traumatic facts or personal information. Those forgotten elements are not lost, but inaccessible from conscience.
This topic is very complex and is often unknown or misunderstood. Following traumatic events such as sexual abuse, a lot of psychotraumatic symptoms appear (i.e. dissociation, hypervigilance, etc.). In order to help victims more efficiently, it is essential to be aware of the variety of symptoms expression, the different types of defence mechanisms as well as trauma impacts that can occur. Indeed, thinking that a girl might be lying about her rape whereas she experiences psychic numbing and dissociation, will get the situation worse. Consequently, the victim will not get helped as much as she needs to in order to go trough this traumatic event. Her symptoms will become a handicap in her social and professional life, possibly causing the victim to have suicidal thoughts. As a matter of fact, Marie actually starts thinking about suicide as she tries to jump off a bridge.
It is important to raise awareness about traumatic events and psychotraumatic symptoms in order to protect victims mental health, and help them go through this ordeal.
WORDS WE HAVE LEARNED:
- Hounded: Harcelée
- Forefront: Au premier plan
- Staggered: Sidérée, stupéfiée, ahurie
- Psychic numbing: Sidération psychique
- Foster mother: Mère de famille d’accueil
- Ordeal: Épreuve, calvaire
Charline Drapier – Gladys Rossoni – Lindsay Paingt