Therapy with Victims of Political Repression in Chile

The Challenge of Social Reparation

Datos Bibliográficos

ID10219855
AutoresDavid Becker (0000-0002-7331-046X, Inria Chile, autor de correspondencia), Elizabeth Lira (0000-0003-2831-8638, Latin American Institute), María Isabel Castillo, María Isabel Rivas Castillo (0000-0002-9857-4584, Diego Portales University), Elena Gómez (0000-0003-2648-8510), Elena Sánchez Gómez (University of Chicago), Juana Kovalskys (Psychoanalytical Association)
Año1990
Volumen46
Número3
Páginas133-149
Fecha de publicación1990-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Social Issues (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0022-4537 • E-ISSN: 1540-4560
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1540-4560.1990.tb01939.x
OpenAlexW2043064313
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas37
Referencias citadas5

This article describes the work of a mental health team confronting the individual and social consequences of human rights violations by the military government in Chile from 1973 through 1989. It examines three forms of repression—torture, disappearance, and death—and the consequences these have had for victims and family members. Damage to victims is conceptualized in terms of “extreme traumatization,” and psychotherapeutic work with the victims has required radical rethinking of the nature of the therapeutic bond that is necessary with these patients. Grief processes have special relevance in this work, as does the relationship between the personal experience of repression and the sociopolitical context. An illustrative case study of therapy with a torture victim is presented. Finally, the article emphasizes the importance of societal reparation for the psychological recovery of the victims and the consolidation of a stable democracy in Chile

Context (archaeology · Criminology · Democracy · Grief · Human rights · Political repression · Political science · Politics · Psychotherapist · Torture · Law · Political and Social Dynamics in Chile and Latin America · Psychology · Resilience and Mental Health · Social Psychology