This week Amber Heard has the opportunity to defend herself in the trial that her ex-husband Johnny Depp initiated after a lawsuit for defamation in which he demands 50 million dollars. Now, the actress began to present all the evidence that she has in her favor and among the witnesses is a forensic psychologist from New York who recounted, between the lines, the alleged situations of abuse that she would have suffered at the hands of the ex-husband her.
Psychologist Dawn Hughes took the stand to testify about the behavior she saw in the 22 hours she shared with Amber.
That it was also presented as evidence in the case together with a general analysis of the different situations of abuse that are reported.
The specialist in domestic violence maintained that the Aquaman actress suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which occurred after the breakup of the couple she had with the Pirates of the Caribbean actor.
First, he explained that victims of domestic violence “feel immense shame because of the abuse,” which they suffer, and that this “has an aggravating effect on them.”
Amber Heard Psychologist
On the other hand, he indicated that “abusive relationships are a vicious circle of trying to study.”
Like, for example, inquiring about the patterns that lead women to “be with that man who constantly hurts them” and, nevertheless, think that they stay because “they love him so much and believe they can change”.
The expert added that these patterns occur when “the man is loving, they take them for a walk, they buy florestrips, restaurants”.
Therefore women say to themselves “stay with this man, he is kind”, because he is the one “they had expected and envisioned for their future”.
“In addition, the kind details of him predominate and not the abuse,” she explained at the time she was questioned.
Analysis of the types of violence
Along these lines, the expert who provided an analysis of the types of violence that women can suffer, such as harassment, physical abuse, economic violence, among others.
He also specified that “some people stay in the couple because they have economic reasons to do so and that others do so because they have children in common and do not want to deprive their children of a father. They love them and he is the man they married.”
“The most dangerous time for a woman is when she is leaving that relationship, as the likelihood of her being killed increases substantially. They believe that staying in that relationship keeps them safe,” she stated.
Abuse in a family circle
Throughout his testimony, he described the meaning of each abuse that can occur in a family circle. Hughes also clarified that “Amber is not her regular client and revealed that he interviewed the actress for 22 hours in 2021″.
The expert who practices in Manhattan indicated that after conducting an evaluation with the actress, she found “patterns consistent with what is known about intimate partner violence” and insisted that the actress had PTSD at the time of the evaluation.
According to the report provided by the expert on the actress, she indicated that the signs of “intimate partner violence and the records reviewed are consistent with what is known in the field about intimate partner violence, characterized by physical violence, aggression psychological, sexual violence,” he said. She, in turn, expanded that Amber had “coercive control and surveillance behaviors.”
Depp could have abused Heard according to psychologist
Near the end of her testimony, which initially lasted more than an hour, the expert recounted an allegedly unpleasant experience that the actress would have told her.
In this the actor thought it was “acceptable to rip her nightgown” and put her fingers in her private parts, “in search of drugs”.
As he described, although without directly naming the actors, the alleged abuse is “fueled by alcohol, which sometimes leads individuals to exercise signs of power over the other, such as throwing the victim on the bed demanding sex in situations of domestic violence, to the point of creating situations of psychological abuse of the other”.
And if he can’t get what he wanted, he gets angrier with her and blames her for this”, he exemplified about the types of abuse.
*The Grupo de Diarios América (GDA), to which El Nacional belongs, is a leading media network founded in 1991 that promotes democratic values, an independent press and freedom of expression in Latin America through quality journalism for our audiences.