Reframing political violence and mental health outcomes: outlining a research and action agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean region

Résumé 0

"In recent decades, the number of peopleexposed to traumatic events has significantlyincreased as various forms of violence, includingwar and political upheaval, engulf civilian populationsworldwide. In spite of widespread armedconflict, guerrilla warfare and political violencein the Latin American and Caribbean region, insufficientattention had been paid in assessing themedium and long-term psychological impact andadditional burden of disease, death, and disabilitycaused by violence and wars amongst civilianpopulations. Following a review of the literature,a few central questions are raised: What is theshort, medium and long-term health impact ofextreme and sustained forms of violence in a givenpopulation? How political violence is linked topoor mental health outcomes at the individualand collective levels? Are trauma-related disorders,universal outcomes of extreme and sustainedviolence? These questions lead us to reframethe analysis of political violence and mentalhealth outcomes, and reexamine the notionsof trauma, after which a research and actionagenda for the region is outlined. In the concludingsections, some basic principles that may proveuseful when designing psychosocial interventionsin post-conflict situations are reviewed."