Soins et réparation. Les liaisons dangereuses ?

Abstract

Today, care and support systems for victims of violent events are composed, from the very beginning of the emergency, of medico-psychological caregivers and legal experts. Although closely intertwined, psychological care and reparation fall into two different fields: the clinical and the legal. Some terms have clearly differentiated meanings while others, using similar terms, cover very different realities. Furthermore, the use of the expressions “victim”, “trauma” and “reparation” following a violent event has become so wide spread that they have lost all specificity. We therefore feel it is fundamental to define these terms in each of their respective fields. Secondly, we will attempt to differentiate between care and reparation, so as not to maintain the confusion between what lies in the legal realm or in the psychological reality. Legal experts and psychotherapists can only improve their practices if each maintains their respective place while liaising, establishing the necessary continuity between what unites people and what makes them different, distinctions that at times become blurred, or that come dangerously close?