Her Name Is Sabine

#namesabine

The narrator, her sister Sandrine, talks about Sabine: "As a child, she was different and needed special care. Autism and diagnosis weren't an issue then. At 28 she was institutionalized... (0:00)

Sabine exhibits brief combative conduct with staff. (0:03)

Sabine drools. (0:04, 0:28, 0:56, 1:11) Is this likely due to medication?

Narrator regarding Sabine's experience of school: "The taunting made her self-destructive. She'd bite her hands, scratch her face, and take off her clothes in the playground." (0:05)

Sabine combative. (0:10)

Resident Oliver's mother talks about taking his anti-epileptic drugs by mistake. (0:34)

Sabine involuntarily moves her jaw while a nurse takes her monthly blood sample. (0:41) Tardive dyskinesia?

Narrator: "In 1996 after our older brother died... " (0:42)

Narrator: "She became course and started spitting. Her violence was now directed at our mother. She'd pull her hair and hit her in the face. She destroyed everything she loved and ripped up our vacation photos."
"But Sabine continued to be violent... We decided to send her to a psychiatric hospital... given light medication... no specific diagnosis." (0:43)

Sabine gets her medicine in a drink. (0:52)

Sabine's pills organized then given to Sabine. (0:59)

Narrator: "At the hospital Sabine's anxiety grew worse. She'd bang her head on the walls, bruise her skull and self-mutilate. She was locked up, kept in a straitjacket and given high doses of neuroleptics. .. 30 kg heavier... trembled and drooled. Her memory was nearly gone..." (1:02)

Sandrine interviews Sabine's treater: "She displayed mutism... expression of anxiety... She was drooling a lot. Now she drools less and less, even though she's taking fairly large doses of medicine."
"structure to the therapy..." (1:03)

Sabine appears to bite her hand; "I was told you tried to jump out the window." Sabine denies this.
Sabine: "One time I already jumped out the window."
Treater: "She often demonstrates acting-out behavior." (1:05)

Narrator: "She's been diagnosed at last. She is psychoinfantile with autistic behavior... Her medication has been reduced by half. (1:08)

Sabine, again combative, repeatedly asks whether her sister will visit again. (1:13)

"What's the definition of autism?"
Treater: "There are different autisms,... impossibility... to live with others... withdrawal... inability to express anxiety... always hitting against a boundary... A Psychological destructuring. Like you no longer exist. An annihilation of the self." (1:14)

Sabine cries as she watches video of herself on a family trip to America. (1:18)

Narrator: "Is the decline of her abilities inherent to her illness? Will she ever live without medication?" (1:23)

antiepileptic | Autistic Disorder | neuroleptic | self-mutilation