Gender-based violence in adolescence with light therapy.

The Context: Adolescent Gender-Based Violence and its Myths

Gender violence in adolescence has its own characteristics that make it difficult to detect and intervene.

It is often invisibilized or normalized under the "myths of romantic love": jealousy is interpreted as "interest", control (checking the cell phone, deciding on clothes) as "protection" and emotional dependence as "true love".

This violence is strongly manifested in the digital sphere (cyber-control, sextortion). Adolescent victims rarely identify themselves as "abused".

They often present great resistance to traditional verbal therapy, feeling shame, fear or denial.

The therapeutic challenge is to break down this barrier and help them identify that these behaviors are not love, but violence.

Phototherapy as a Tool for Awareness Raising

This is where therapeutic photography becomes a powerful tool. As a nonverbal technique, it bypasses the adolescent's intellectual defenses.

The therapist may use projective techniques (asking her to choose pictures from magazines) that represent her relationship; she is likely to choose images that symbolically reflect oppression or sadness, allowing the therapist to ask, "What do you see here?"

The photographic homework technique is very straightforward: "Photograph something that represents how you feel when you are with your partner" or "Photograph something that represents 'control.'"

The victim may bring in pictures of objects (a cage, a guarded phone, a locked door).

These images become tangible and irrefutable proof of her discomfort, allowing her, for the first time, to see and name the oppression she is experiencing without having to use the word "violence".

Objectives: Deconstruction and Recovery of Identity

The therapeutic process with phototherapy in these cases has several objectives.

The first is identification and deconstruction: using the images created to dismantle the myths of romantic love ("Does this that you have photographed look like respect?").

The second, and more important, is the recovery of identity. Gender-based violence annuls the victim, isolates her and erases her "I". Therapy uses self-portraiture as a tool for reconnection.

The adolescent is asked to photograph the parts of herself that she likes, her forgotten hobbies, her support networks (friends, family).

The act of "focusing" on herself again