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A National Response to Paedophilia and Child Murder

Catholic University of Louvain

In August 1996, Belgium was deeply shocked to learn of the rape and murder of several young girls by a group of paedophiles. In the wake of these events, the Belgian population displayed symptoms of collective emotional shock and bereavement. We endeavoured to come to terms with these feelings as a community. We immediately sent an open letter to all children, which was published in the country’s main newspapers. We then organized a group debriefing on national television on a very popular children’s programme. This article deals mainly with the processes involved in this debriefing session. Further complications later developed involving, among others, abused children and their families. In order to help them, in addition to individual interventions, we again used the press and radio and TV programmes. When the population eventually began to emerge from the shock and bereavement, we acted to prevent excesses by, among other things, writing an ‘open letter to child abusers’.

Key Words: (collective) bereavement • (collective) emotional shock • (collective) post-traumatic stress disorder • debriefing session • mental health institutions

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