Abstract

DE LA ESPRIELLA, Ricardo  and  FALLA, Josué Vladimir. Refections about the Attention in Mental Health of Ex-Soldiers of Armed Irregular Groups. rev.colomb.psiquiatr. [online]. 2009, vol.38, n.2, pp.230-247. ISSN 0034-7450.

Introduction:The political violence in Colombia and the ways of approaching the process of demobilization of the irregular armed groups they have implied attending in mental health of ex-soldiers with repeated exhibition to stressful events, which implies diffculties for the reincorporation to the civil life, both for individual situations and for the response of the society to this process. Objectives: Describe the fnds found in the attention in men’s psychiatric clinic ex-soldiers of armed irregular groups under a program of rehabilitation. Method: Series of cases (n=76). Results:Initially the attention in mental health to a group of exsoldiers of the armed Colombian groups did not demonstrate a diagnosis of disorder for posttraumatic stress (group of men with ages from 18 to 46 years, in whom there were checked clinical and demographic aspects); but on having applied the scale CAPS in 22 cases, 12 (57 %) was positive for posttraumatic stress. Conclusions: The posttraumatic stress exists in the re-inserted ones of paramilitary groups and guerrilla warfare; nevertheless, it is poorly recognized and diagnosed, among other factors, for the system of beliefs, both of the demobilized ones and of the observers. It is a question of vulnerable men, with multiple problematic personal and social, previous and later to the process of incorporation to the armed groups. It´s remarkable the variation of the medical profle of posttraumatic stress with the presented one in other populations.

Keywords : Post-traumatic stress disorder; violence; mental health; Colombia.

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