A Vida em Mim

This documentary is about a rare dissociative disorder related to traumatic stress in children. Cases have been noted in other instances outside of Sweden, but it is rare. Many of those affected share common backgrounds.

An absolute riveting watch. My heart broke for those families.

I found it interesting but something seemed . . . off about it. It definitely seemed one-sided. I did a bit of sleuthing and according to one source, one of the children was trained to act like they had RS. One of the doctors also reportedly had his words taken out of context in a way that seems really suspicious to me.

I don't doubt the stories behind why these refugees were in Sweden. But keeping that in mind, you have to consider that people will do anything to keep themselves and their families safe--including lying. (I don't think that makes someone a bad person, but gaining publicity from lies certainly does.) You can see how a refugee child coming down with RS can help the family secure asylum, and so I've taken the documentary with a grain of salt.

I'm not saying all of these families are liars and this isn't a real thing, but looking back after I've watched it, it seems more like one-sided propaganda than a well-balanced, multi-faceted documentary that goes into depth on the topic.

Resignation Syndrome is a fascinating condition and the families' stories are very sad. However, I feel this beautifully filmed documentary offers little beyond an introduction. Frustratingly we're never told which countries these refugee families came from, and the film doesn't examine the syndrome from a scientific angle.

It was one sided story all the time. I would love to hear stuff from professional doctors and how are they working to solve/cure this illness. Also, we could get more insight on government's side of the whole deportation story.