Citation

Harrati S, Vavassori D. Bull. Psychol. (Paris) 2021; 571(1): 3-15.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Universite de Paris. Groupe D Etudes de Psychologie)

DOI

10.3917/bupsy.571.0003

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article examines the psychic consequences on a teenager of domestic homicide, an extreme form of violence within the couple and the family. Based on the case of Serena, a teenage girl exposed to the murder of her mother, we examine the psychic effects of lethal conjugal violence on the adolescent process. We show how lethal conjugal violence can be seen as a trauma-tic infringement on the psychic construction of this teenage girl, hampering her work of mourning for her mother, but also for her father, unable as parents to protect her and/or contain her distress. The clinical treatment of Serena allows us to discuss aspects of clinical work relating to the entanglement of two movements: the first in connection to puberty, necessitating emancipatory psychic work, and the second related to the trauma represented by the domestic violence that led to the murder of her mother. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Keywords

Homicide; Bereavement; Domestic Violence; distress; domestic homicide; mothers; Exposure to Violence; Puberty