Comment survivre au trauma ? | Jean-Paul Mari | TEDxCannes
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0:19 - 0:21Hello.
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0:23 - 0:27On April 8 in 2003,
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0:28 - 0:32I was in Baghdad to cover the war in Iraq.
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0:32 - 0:37It was when the Americans
entered Baghdad with their tanks. -
0:38 - 0:44We were just a few journalists
in the Palestine Hotel, -
0:45 - 0:50and the war was approaching
downstairs, outside our windows. -
0:52 - 0:57Baghdad was covered
in black smoke and oil, -
0:57 - 1:00it stank, you couldn't see a thing,
but we knew what was happening. -
1:00 - 1:02I was supposed
to write an article, of course. -
1:02 - 1:06It's always when it happens
that you have to write the article. -
1:06 - 1:09So I was in my room on the 16th floor,
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1:10 - 1:15writing, and occasionally looking out
of the window to see what's happening. -
1:15 - 1:18And then suddenly,
there was a loud explosion. -
1:18 - 1:20For the past 3 weeks,
we were being bombed -
1:20 - 1:23by missiles and half-a-ton bombs
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1:23 - 1:29but then that shock,
I felt it inside me. -
1:29 - 1:33So I thought, it's so close!
Very, very close! -
1:33 - 1:36So I went down
to see what was happening, -
1:36 - 1:41I came down on the 15th floor, to see,
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1:41 - 1:44and I saw people screaming
in the corridors, journalists -
1:44 - 1:46and I walked into a room
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1:46 - 1:51and I understood that this room
had been hit by a projectile. -
1:51 - 1:54Someone was hurt,
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1:55 - 1:57then near the window,
there was a man -
1:57 - 2:01who was a cameraman,
called Taras Protsuyk, -
2:02 - 2:04and he was lying face-down.
-
2:08 - 2:12I'd worked in a hospital once,
so I wanted to help. -
2:12 - 2:16So I turned him over.
And when I did, -
2:18 - 2:24he was open from sternum to pubis,
but I saw nothing, nothing at all. -
2:24 - 2:31I saw a white, pearly, shiny spot,
that blinded me -
2:31 - 2:33and I did not understand.
-
2:33 - 2:37And the spot faded and saw
the wound, which was very serious, -
2:37 - 2:40some buddies and I put him put in a sheet,
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2:40 - 2:44we brought him down in an elevator
which stopped at each floor, 15 floors, -
2:44 - 2:47We put in a car that took him
to the hospital. -
2:47 - 2:51He died on the way to the hospital,
and the Spanish cameraman José Couso, -
2:51 - 2:54who was on the 14th floor and was also hit
-
2:54 - 2:56- because the shell
had hit between floors - -
2:56 - 3:00died on the operating table.
When I came back, -
3:00 - 3:04once the car left,
I had an article to write, -
3:04 - 3:09I had to write it. And so I came...
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3:10 - 3:14I returned to the hotel lobby,
my arms were covered in blood -
3:14 - 3:17And there, there was some
Iraqi henchman who stoppped me -
3:17 - 3:21asking to pay him ten days
overdue taxes -
3:21 - 3:24so I sent him packing.
And I thought: -
3:23 - 3:27"Above all, put that aside.
Put that aside! -
3:29 - 3:31If you want to write,
you must put that aside. " -
3:31 - 3:34That's what I did, I went up,
I wrote my article, I sent it. -
3:34 - 3:40But afterwards, beside affect,
beside having lost colleagues, -
3:40 - 3:44something was bothering me:
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3:44 - 3:48I kept seeing this spot, shiny, pearly,
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3:50 - 3:53and I did not understand what it meant.
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3:53 - 3:56And then war was over.
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3:58 - 4:00Later, I told myself, it is not possible.
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4:00 - 4:04I can't not know what happened.
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4:04 - 4:08Because it was not the first time,
it is not just me, -
4:08 - 4:11I had seen things like that in others
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4:11 - 4:14in 20 or 35 years of reporting .
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4:15 - 4:19I've seen things that had
affected me too, but for example, -
4:19 - 4:23in The Lebanon, I knew a man,
a veteran, he was 25, -
4:23 - 4:265 years of war, so he was
a veteran, we followed him everywhere! -
4:26 - 4:29He would crawl at night, confidently,
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4:29 - 4:33he was a great soldier, a real soldier,
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4:33 - 4:36so we followed him because
we knew we were safe with him. -
4:36 - 4:40And one day, I was told,
and I saw him again since, -
4:40 - 4:42he was playing cards in the barracks
-
4:42 - 4:48and someone came in,
they discharged their weapon, -
4:48 - 4:53as the gun went off and the blast,
the simple shot, -
4:53 - 4:57had him duck under the table,
like a child! -
4:57 - 5:01He was shaking, panicking!
And since then he's never been able -
5:02 - 5:06to get up and fight. And he ended,
I found him, -
5:06 - 5:09as a croupier in Beirout casino
because he could not sleep, -
5:09 - 5:12so it was quite a suitable job.
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5:12 - 5:14So I thought:
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5:15 - 5:17"What is that thing
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5:18 - 5:23that can kill you without leaving
any visible injuries? -
5:23 - 5:26How does that happen?
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5:26 - 5:28What is this unknown thing?
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5:29 - 5:34It was too common to be a coincidence.
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5:34 - 5:37So I started to investigate --
that's all I know to do. -
5:37 - 5:39I started to investigate
-
5:39 - 5:42look through books,
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5:43 - 5:48and reach out to psychiatrists,
museums, libraries, etc. -
5:48 - 5:52And finally I discovered
that some people knew -- -
5:53 - 5:55often military psychiatrists --
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5:55 - 5:59and that what we were dealing with
was something called a trauma. -
6:00 - 6:04Americans call it PTDS,
or trauma, traumatic neurosis. -
6:04 - 6:06It was something
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6:08 - 6:10that existed,
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6:10 - 6:12which we never spoke about.
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6:14 - 6:17So, what is this trauma?
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6:17 - 6:20Well, it is an encounter with death.
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6:21 - 6:24I don't know if you've ever had
an experience with death -- -
6:24 - 6:26I'm not talking about dead bodies,
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6:26 - 6:29or someone's grandfather
laying in a hospital bed, -
6:29 - 6:33or someone who got hit by a car.
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6:34 - 6:39I'm talking about
facing the void of death. -
6:40 - 6:45And that is something
no one is supposed to see. -
6:46 - 6:48People used to say:
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6:48 - 6:51"Neither the sun, nor death
can be looked at with a steady eye." -
6:51 - 6:56A human being should not have to face
the void of death. -
6:56 - 6:58But when that happens,
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7:00 - 7:03it can remain invisible for a while --
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7:03 - 7:06days, weeks, months, sometimes years.
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7:06 - 7:08And then, at some point
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7:10 - 7:11it explodes,
-
7:11 - 7:15because it's something
that has entered the brain, -
7:15 - 7:19a sort of window
between an image and the brain, -
7:19 - 7:23which has penerated the brain
and will remains there, -
7:23 - 7:26taking up all the space in the brain.
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7:28 - 7:30And there are people --
men, women, -
7:31 - 7:33who suddenly no longer sleep,
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7:34 - 7:36and experience horrible anxiety attacks --
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7:37 - 7:38panic attacks --
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7:38 - 7:39not just minor fears.
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7:40 - 7:42Who suddenly don't want to sleep
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7:42 - 7:47because when they sleep,
they have the same nightmare every night, -
7:47 - 7:48they see the same image every night.
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7:48 - 7:50What type of image?
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7:50 - 7:53For example, a soldier
who enters a building -
7:53 - 7:56and comes face to face
with another soldier aiming at him. -
7:56 - 7:59He looks at the gun --
straight down the barrel. -
7:59 - 8:02And this barrel suddenly
becomes enormous, deformed, -
8:02 - 8:05it becomes fluffy, swallowing everything.
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8:05 - 8:07And he says --
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8:08 - 8:10later he will say: "I saw death,
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8:10 - 8:13I saw myself dead, threrfore I'm dead."
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8:13 - 8:17And from then on,
he knows he is dead. -
8:17 - 8:22It is not a perception,
he is convinced he is dead. -
8:22 - 8:25Though in reality,
someone pushed that gun away, -
8:25 - 8:27and he didn't actually get shot --
-
8:27 - 8:29but all he knows
is that he died in that moment. -
8:29 - 8:31It can also be the smell
of a mass grave -- -
8:31 - 8:33I have seen many in Rwanda.
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8:34 - 8:37It can be the voice of a friend calling
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8:37 - 8:41who's being slaughtered,
for whom you can't do anything. -
8:41 - 8:42You hear that voice.
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8:42 - 8:47Every night for weeks, months,
you wake up. -
8:48 - 8:51In trance, panicked, terrified
like a child. -
8:51 - 8:55I have seen men cry, but like a child,
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8:56 - 8:58seeing the same image.
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8:58 - 9:02So in his brain,
that image of horror, -
9:05 - 9:07that of the nothingness of death,
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9:07 - 9:09which is called non alogo,
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9:09 - 9:11meaning an image hiding something,
will occupy everything. -
9:11 - 9:14He can't do anything.
Anything at all. -
9:14 - 9:16He can no longer work,
it can no longer love. -
9:16 - 9:20He goes home, he does not recognize
anyone. He does not recognize himself. -
9:22 - 9:28He hides, he stays home,
he locks himself in! -
9:28 - 9:30I know people who put
small tins outside -
9:30 - 9:33with coins in case anyone passed by, came.
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9:33 - 9:35All of a sudden, he wants to die,
he wants to kill, -
9:35 - 9:37he wants to hide, he wants to run,
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9:37 - 9:40he wants to be loved, he hates men
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9:40 - 9:46and something comes over him all day long,
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9:46 - 9:49and he suffers tremendously.
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9:51 - 9:53And the others don't understand!
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9:53 - 9:55They say: "But there's nothing
wrong with you! -
9:55 - 9:57You're fine, you have no injuries,
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9:57 - 10:00you went to war,
you came back, you're fine. " -
10:00 - 10:03And these people suffer tremendously
and some commit suicide: -
10:04 - 10:07after all, suicide,
it's to put my agenda to date, -
10:07 - 10:08since I'm already dead,
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10:08 - 10:11if I kill myself, fine.
And in addition, there is no more pain. -
10:11 - 10:12Some commit suicide,
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10:12 - 10:14others end up under the bridge,
start drinking... -
10:14 - 10:19You all remember of the story
of that grandfather, of that uncle, -
10:19 - 10:21that neighbour who drank,
who said nothing, -
10:21 - 10:23who was cantankerous, who beat his wife
-
10:23 - 10:27and ended either sinking
into alcoholism, or dying. -
10:27 - 10:31And they don't talk about it, why?
We don't talk about it, why? -
10:31 - 10:35Because it is taboo!
You cannot say - -
10:35 - 10:38man does not have the words
to say the nothingness of death. -
10:38 - 10:41But the others can't hear it!
When I'd come back from an assignment, -
10:41 - 10:44for the first time, I was told:
"Ah! He's back from his assignment! " -
10:44 - 10:48There was a dinner, a beautiful
white tablecloth, candles, guests, -
10:48 - 10:50"Here, tell us about it! "
I told about it. -
10:50 - 10:5220 minutes later,
people would give me dirty looks, -
10:52 - 10:54the hostess had her nose in the ashtray,
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10:54 - 10:56well, it was horrible,
-
10:56 - 10:58and I realized I had screwed up
the evening. -
10:58 - 11:01So now, I don't tell anymore,
but we are not ready to listen to that, -
11:01 - 11:02We say "Oh, stop!"
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11:02 - 11:07Is it just a few cases? No.
This is extremely common! -
11:07 - 11:12One third of the dead soldiers in Iraq -
dead, sorry for the slip. -
11:12 - 11:17One third of US soldiers
in Iraq suffer from PTSD. -
11:17 - 11:21In 1939, there were still,
in English psychiatric hospitals, -
11:21 - 11:27200,000 soldiers of the First World War.
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11:27 - 11:31In Vietnam, there were 54,000 deaths.
Americans. -
11:31 - 11:36By 87, the US government
had found 102,000 - twice as many - -
11:36 - 11:39102,000 completed suicides of veterans.
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11:39 - 11:41Twice as many deaths
in combat as in Vietnam. -
11:41 - 11:45So you understand that this
is something that covers everything! -
11:45 - 11:47Not just modern warfare,
ancient wars too, -
11:47 - 11:50they are found in ancient texts!
It is told, it is said, -
11:50 - 11:52why do we not talk about it?
-
11:52 - 11:56Why do we not talk about it?
Because the problem -
11:56 - 12:02is that if this man does not speak,
he's heading for disaster. -
12:02 - 12:06But the only way to heal,
-
12:06 - 12:10because the good news
that thing is that it is treatable: -
12:11 - 12:14Munch's The Scream, Goya, etc.
yes, it is treatable! -
12:14 - 12:18The only way to heal this trauma,
-
12:18 - 12:24this encounter with death, which
stuns you, petrifies you, kills you, -
12:24 - 12:28is to manage to talk about it.
-
12:28 - 12:30Someone said, the anceints used to say:
-
12:30 - 12:34"Language is the only thing
holding us men together." -
12:34 - 12:36If there is no language,
we're nothing. -
12:36 - 12:39We are only humans because of it.
-
12:39 - 12:41Faced with this image of horror
-
12:41 - 12:43which has no words,
-
12:43 - 12:47because it's only an image
of nothingness obsessing us, -
12:47 - 12:49the only way to work this out,
-
12:50 - 12:52is to put human words on it.
-
12:52 - 12:55Because these people feel
excluded of humanity: -
12:55 - 12:58no one wants to see them anymore
and they don't want to see anyone. -
12:58 - 13:00They feel dirty, defiled, ashamed.
-
13:00 - 13:02Someone said:
"Doctor, -
13:02 - 13:04I do not go in the subway anymore
-
13:04 - 13:07because I'm afraid people will see
the horror I have in me in my eyes." -
13:07 - 13:08Another said
-
13:08 - 13:11he had a terrible skin disease,
he spent six months in dermatology, -
13:11 - 13:14he would be sent from one ward
to the next, and then one day, -
13:14 - 13:16they sent him to the psychiatrist.
-
13:16 - 13:19And he told the psychiatrist
at the second meeting -
13:19 - 13:21- he had a terrible skin disease,
from here to foot - -
13:21 - 13:24he said: "But why are you in that state?"
-
13:24 - 13:27And the man said, "But because
I'm dead, so I'm rotting away." -
13:27 - 13:31So you see this is something
that affects men at their deepest. -
13:31 - 13:38To heal, we must talk.
We need to put the horror into words, -
13:38 - 13:42human words, manage to tame,
to talk about it. -
13:42 - 13:46You have to look death in the face.
-
13:46 - 13:52And if we can do that,
if we talk about these things, -
13:52 - 13:56then gradually, working with a speech
-
13:55 - 13:59we can recover our human side.
-
13:59 - 14:03And this is important!
Silence is killing us! -
14:03 - 14:07What does that mean?
That means that if afterwards, -
14:07 - 14:11ah, of course, we lost our
unbearable lightness of being, -
14:11 - 14:14we lost our sense of eternity
which makes that you are here, -
14:14 - 14:18if you are here, it's that you feel
you are eternal! You're not! -
14:18 - 14:21Otherwise you would not be here,
you'd say "why bother?" -
14:21 - 14:23And they lost that feeling of eternity.
-
14:23 - 14:27They lost their lightness.
But they found something else! -
14:27 - 14:30It means that if we manage
to look death in the face, -
14:31 - 14:36and face it rather than
keep quiet and hide, -
14:36 - 14:40well have men or women I know,
- Michael from Rwanda, -
14:40 - 14:47Carole from Iraq, Philippe from the Congo
all those people I have known, -
14:47 - 14:49Sorj Chalendon, who is now a great writer
-
14:49 - 14:51and who gave up
report assignments after a trauma. -
14:51 - 14:534 or 5 friends of mine committed suicide,
-
14:53 - 14:56they're the ones who did not survive
after a trauma. -
14:56 - 15:01Well if we can look death in the face
-
15:01 - 15:04if we mortal humans, human mortals,
-
15:04 - 15:08we know where we are humans
and mortals, mortals and humans, -
15:08 - 15:13if we can confront it
and to put this thing back on it -
15:13 - 15:16which is the most unknown land
of unknown lands, -
15:16 - 15:19since no one has seen it.
-
15:20 - 15:22If we can put things on it,
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15:22 - 15:31yes, we can die, survive and revive,
-
15:31 - 15:36but stronger, stronger than before.
Much stronger. -
15:36 - 15:37Thank you.
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15:37 - 15:39(Applause)
- Title:
- Comment survivre au trauma ? | Jean-Paul Mari | TEDxCannes
- Description:
-
DESCRIPTION
Parmi les militaires américains engagés au Vietnam, il y a eu 2 fois plus de morts après la guerre qu’au combat. Pourquoi ? Qu’est-ce qu'il se passe ? Qu’appelle-t-on le trouble de stress post-traumatique ? De quoi s’agit-il et comment s’en sort-on ? Jean-Paul Mari nous parle de ce sujet qui reste encore assez tabou à travers son expérience personnelle et professionnelle de Grand Reporter sur la plupart des terrains de conflits de ces dernières années.BIO
Journaliste grand-reporter, psychologue et kinésithérapeute, Jean-Paul Mari a publié plusieurs centaines de reportages à l’étranger et plusieurs ouvrages. Il a réalisé un documentaire « Irak, quand les soldats meurent » et un film "Sans Blessures Apparentes" tiré de son livre du même nom. Il a reçu de très nombreux prix. Il est le créateur et l’animateur du site grands-reporters.com et vient de publier un roman, "La tentation d’Antoine" (Éd Robert Laffont).This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
- Video Language:
- French
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 15:51
Helene Batt edited French subtitles for Comment survivre au trauma ? | Jean-Paul Mari | TEDxCannes | ||
Helene Batt edited French subtitles for Comment survivre au trauma ? | Jean-Paul Mari | TEDxCannes | ||
Helene Batt edited French subtitles for Comment survivre au trauma ? | Jean-Paul Mari | TEDxCannes | ||
Helene Batt edited French subtitles for Comment survivre au trauma ? | Jean-Paul Mari | TEDxCannes | ||
Elisabeth Buffard edited French subtitles for Comment survivre au trauma ? | Jean-Paul Mari | TEDxCannes | ||
Elisabeth Buffard approved French subtitles for Comment survivre au trauma ? | Jean-Paul Mari | TEDxCannes | ||
Elisabeth Buffard edited French subtitles for Comment survivre au trauma ? | Jean-Paul Mari | TEDxCannes | ||
Elisabeth Buffard edited French subtitles for Comment survivre au trauma ? | Jean-Paul Mari | TEDxCannes |