Documentary: Random Acts of Violence

international | crime and justice | opinion/analysis Wednesday April 01, 2009 23:34 by mconlon freestreets at hotmail dot com

Writer/Filmmaker based in Dublin seeks to interview individuals who have been indirectly or directly affected by aggravated assault or street crime. According to Garda figures there were 3800 incidents of this nature last year in Dublin alone. The aim of this project is to more fully understand the residual effects of post traumatic stress arising from unwarranted assault. In doing so it is hoped to investigate the healing process and resilience of the victim through shared experience. Interviews will be carried out with absolute discretion to the sensitivity of the subject and at the convenience of those willing to take part.

While the initial physical effects heal relatively quickly, it is the long-term psychological effects of an assault which are most disabling; the effects of post traumatic stress. The victim constantly refers back to that moment of attack. They replay how they could have, or did not, assert themselves to overcome their assailants. This, reliving of events, compounds feelings of helplessness. Those who have been attacked usually have symptoms of being highly sensitive to possible dangers while going about their daily activities and this, to some extent, renders them as prisoners to perceived threats in their everyday lives.

In his writings on the effects of trauma, Prof Peter A. Levine states that a key factor in healing these psychological scars is to get past the urge to mentally replay events in which the attacked persons ultimately relegates themselves to being helpless victims. In order to move on, those attacked need to re-negotiate and reaffirm their self-image. By deciding to share their story to it is hoped that that the work can act as a means to externalize the actualities of the attack and thus the subject can then repossess their personnel identity and positive sense of self.

Fear can leave a victim feeling incapable of self-care and thus establishing a diminished sense of self-regard. Ultimately, this means that the victim continues to be controlled by their assailant long after the actuality of the event. It is hoped that relating the actualities of the event may help establish a psychological turning point in a victim’s experience and therefore help the victim towards a point of closure. I do not pertain to be psychologist, however I have found that there is a lot to be learned by communicating such experiences as they happen more frequently than we would like to imagine.

As such it is hoped this work will become critically engaged in the problem of social violence in our communities. It is hoped that this project may instigate dialogues and social engagement which may lead to new understandings and social relationships.

If you or someone you know wishes to take part please E-mail: freestreets@hotmail.com