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Johanna Rozenblum (clinical psychologist)
Last Tuesday in Paris, a 12-year-old child voluntarily jumped out of the window of his apartment, leaving a farewell note about serious conflicts with his father. How can we come to such a tragic outcome at this age? Psychologist Johanna Rozenblum answers us.
This Tuesday, March 12 in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, a 12-year-old boy killed himself by jumping from a window of his apartment located on the 3rd floor. A desperate fall which, according to the first elements of the investigation, would be linked to a difficult and conflicting paternal bond. The child, who did not die instantly, unfortunately died quickly from his injuries despite the arrival of help, according to The Parisian.
The father’s overly strict upbringing in question?
Following this suicide, the juvenile prosecutor’s office opened an investigation to “search for the causes of death”. But the first elements, including a farewell letter written by the child before his action, evoke an argument, or even a more lasting conflict with a father who “adopted strict methods on how to educate his son”. The source of Parisian also evokes “terrible” facts of which we are not aware.
Difficulties often not detected in time
But how can we imagine that a 12-year-old child could want to throw himself out of a window to escape a family situation? What is the tipping point at this age that can cause this tragedy? We asked Johanna Rozenblum, clinical psychologist and member of our expert committee. But according to her, there are too many unknowns here to pinpoint a specific phenomenon.
“Generally in this type of drama we unfortunately discover too late families who are extremely suffering, dysfunctional, with marital difficulties, intra-family violence and a failure to take care of the child, whether in his school life or through psychologists who could have alerted or become aware of difficulties in the family.”
Several hypotheses can therefore coexist at this stage:
“It would of course be necessary to know whether the child was being followed by a psychologist or a psychiatrist, whether there was suffering on his part, or indeed control from the father, physical violence which could have led to an unforeseen accident. There are also complex families, in which the consumption of psychoactive substances exist. But at this stage it’s difficult to get an idea. The investigation must move forward before we can unravel the issues facing this family and the cause of this suicide.”