PORTRAIT Expert

Cédric Lemogne

Caring for women who are victims of domestic violence is not just a matter of social, legal, or physical treatment. This violence, so common, is also a mental health issue. Yet this statement must be handled with care: even as attitudes evolve, these women’s suffering is still often trivialized or “psychiatrized” to discredit their word. The challenge, then, is to recognize genuine mental health needs without reducing victims to this aspect alone. Early trauma, intrafamilial violence — psychological, physical, or sexual — coercive control and manipulation can undermine self-esteem and the capacity to protect oneself and ask for help. They increase exposure to depression, post-traumatic stress, addictions, dissociative disorders, and functional somatic disorders. These conditions are still sometimes read as a sign of weakness, when in fact they are first and foremost the imprint of violence endured.

For many women who are victims of domestic violence, access to rights, safety, and care therefore cannot be built without integrated mental health care.

This calls for a reinforced, graduated mental health care pathway, integrated with social, legal, forensic, and physical care. Stabilizing, understanding coercive control, processing the trauma, restoring self-esteem and agency: these are the necessary steps for these women to reclaim ownership of their trajectory. Only this integrated approach — not fragmented care — can meet the situation at the level it demands.