Citation

Bianchi MG. J. Anal. Psychol. 2023; 68(2): 327-336.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Society of Analytical Psychology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1468-5922.12901

PMID

37012655

Abstract

Enforced disappearance represents the quintessence of human rights violations with a strong psychological component. Bodies vanishing have a deterrent effect by terrorizing and paralyzing the entire society. However, the absence of those bodies is overly present in the inner experience of the families of the disappeared, who are victims in their turn. A state of severe psychological deterioration affects the relatives of the disappeared: depression, anxiety, powerlessness, guilt, post-traumatic stress disorder, inability to mourn, even suicide are the consequences of the unbearable uncertainty about the fate of the loved one. But the disappeared persons, notwithstanding the absence of their bodies, continue to be more present than ever in the inner experience of those who have loved them. For the families of the disappeared, to regain psychological equilibrium is a fine balance between the need to remember and the necessity to forget. The author affirms that, at a social and political level, to cultivate a collective memory of enforced disappearance is an ethical duty which validates the actual occurrence of the atrocities, helps prevent repetition and alleviates the transgenerational transmission of trauma.

Language: en

Keywords

*Emotions; *Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; derechos humanos; desapariciones forzadas; deuil; dimenticare; diritti umani; disparitions forcées; droits humains; duelo; enforced disappearances; Erinnern; Erinnerung; famiglie degli scomparsi; familias de desaparecidos; Familien von Verschwundenen; families of disappeared; familles des disparus; forgetting; Guilt; human rights; Humans; lutto; mémoire; memoria; memory; Menschenrechte; mourning; olvido; oublier; recuerdo; remembering; ricordare; se souvenir; sparizioni forzate; Trauer; Vergessen; Verschwindenlassen; воспоминания; забывание; насильственные исчезновения; память; права человека; семьи исчезнувших; траур; 人权; 哀悼; 回忆; 家庭消失; 强迫失踪; 记忆; 遗忘