Unit 6 – Case study
Case Study: Walking on Eggshells
I want to close out this unit’s video material with something I think will stay with you.
“Walking on Eggshells” is a documentary exploring coercive control in the UK, built around real survivor testimony rather than dramatisation. You’ll hear directly from women describing exactly the patterns we covered in “Understanding Coercive Control” — isolation, monitoring, control through dependency — and you’ll hear the cycle of abuse (tension, incident, reconciliation, calm) described from the inside, which is exactly the framework “The Psychology of Staying” asked you to hold in mind when thinking about why leaving isn’t simply a matter of choice.
A few things worth listening for specifically: the point where one survivor describes the highest-risk period coming after she’d already left — precisely the pattern we discussed in Document 2. The way trauma and PTSD linger long after the relationship ends, sometimes worse than any physical injury. And the legal history covered in Document 1 — coercive control only became a criminal offence in England and Wales in 2015, Scotland in 2019, Northern Ireland in 2021 — playing out here as lived experience, not just a date on a page.
A note on this film, in the filmmakers’ own words: this film contains descriptions of domestic abuse that some viewers may find upsetting. If you’ve been affected by anything in this unit, in the UK you can contact the National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247 or at nationaldahelpline.org.uk — if you’re outside the UK, please look up the equivalent service in your own country. Please don’t carry it alone.
