The Architecture of Healing: A Screenplay Depicting the Three Stages of Healing After Trauma

Authors

  • Angeline Beauty Stacia Petra Christian University
  • Jenny Mochtar Petra Christian University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.9744/katakita.14.3.%25p

Keywords:

C-PTSD, psychological drama, rape trauma syndrome, recovery theory, sexual assault

Abstract

The screenplay The Architecture of Healing explores trauma and recovery through a psychological grounded narrative of Sarah’s life after rape. Inspired by the writer’s true story, the screenplay draws from Judith Herman’s concept of C-PTSD and her three-stage model of healing. Using drama as the genre of the story, the creative work focuses on Sarah’s journey towards healing as a gradual process and life after rape, accompanied by symptoms from C-PTSD and Rape Trauma Syndrome (RTS), developed by Ann Wolbert Burgess and Lynda Lytle Holmstrom. In the end, Sarah learns to take a leap by sharing bits of her story to someone trusted as part of her healing, though it risks re-traumatization. Ultimately, her reconnection stage begins at the end of the story. In other words, the ending of the story is the beginning of her life.

References

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Dell’Omo, A. (n.d.). Trauma and Recovery, by Judith Herman (1992). Retrieved from Not Even Past: https://notevenpast.org/trauma-and-recovery-by-judith-herman-1992/#:~:text=Herman's%20trauma%20theory%20includes%20the%20following%20ideas:,the%20recollection%2C%20and%20mourn%20that%20traumatic%20loss.

Gulino, P. J. (2024). Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach. Bloomsbury Academic.

Herman, J. (1992). Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence- from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. New York: Perseus Books Group.

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Published

2026-09-30 — Updated on 2026-09-30

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