Analysis of “The Sinner” Series with Regard to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

The Sinner, an eight episode series, was analyzed with a clinical psychology perspective in the current article. The main character, Cora, commits a murder and detective Harry is assigned to inquire this murder. While detective Harry inquires he suspects that Cora might have experienced a traumatic event and the murder might be related to this incident. When detective Harry learns about Cora’s family and early life experiences, he uncovers that Cora has a period that she has no memories about. Harry believes that if this period is resolved, the murder will be solved as well. He unveils that Cora was exposed to some events that she never wanted and, she was unaware of these traumatic experiences because she has amnesia. In this respect, the topics analyzed in this article are identifying psychological trauma and case formulation, family dynamics and sibling relationships, substance abuse, psychological therapy of trauma, and patient-therapist alliance. While these topics were analyzed, detective Harry was positioned as a psychotherapist while Cora was thought as a patient. How this series might help clinical psychology education was discussed at the conclusion section