How is a burglary experienced psychologically?
Like an intrusion, deep into the person’s intimacy. Depending on the experience of each, it can also awaken old anxieties.
This can be traumatic if the burglary creates a threat to the physical or psychological integrity of the person. The victim can then develop a post-trauma syndrome in relation to the intense fear they have suffered. We are faced with anxieties of intrusion.
A violence here characterized by penetration into someone’s privacy without their consent. An even stronger feeling if the person was present, if the burglary took place under duress, with physical brutality.
How to recover from this trauma?
It should first be determined whether the person is a victim of post-traumatic syndrome. Some do not develop it until they feel threatened with death. However, we often see anxiety disorders that lead to over-vigilance.
The victim no longer feels safe at home and will double-lock their entire home, put cameras everywhere, or even take a dog. We will then work together on these anxiety disorders and on the question of meaning. Make her understand that she was not directly targeted in person and that the world is uncertain.
We will try to move forward with her on all the strategies she puts in place to determine if it becomes obsessive or if it helps her feel safe.
Starting to telecommute 100% may seem reassuring, but it can also reflect an obsessive need for permanent control that should not be allowed to take hold.
Is it different in children?
They don’t have the same emotional management skills at all. For a child, the development of the brain is not yet complete. It is very dependent on the reaction of the parents. If they are very weakened by the event, the child may develop symptoms such as anxiety disorders, night terrors, fear of being abducted or even separation anxiety. The child does not have the same resources.
This one will not have the same defense strategies to digest the event. We are going to set up a job so that the parents can secure it. If the burglary is experienced as a tragedy by the parents, for the child it will increase tenfold. But if it is well managed by the family, it can greatly limit the appearance of these kinds of symptoms.
