P á g i n a 884
Revista Científica y Académica. Vol. 4, No. 2, Abril, Junio Año 2024
Psycho-Social Effects that Alter the Family Relationships of
Displaced Persons in the Southern Municipalities of the
Department of La Guajira
ABSTRACT
Forced displacement affects thousands of families in Colombia, households suffering severe
consequences from this internal conflict. It is very difficult to accurately determine the number of
people in displacement situations to date. There are many causes of displacement, the most well-known
being confrontations generated by the wars in this country, from one group or another; even national
law has, in one way or another, influenced this situation of civil displacement. Families that have
survived massacres and experienced destruction in their family structure, where family disintegration
occurred due to the disappearance of relatives, face emotional implications such as fear, anguish,
uncertainty, sadness, extreme tension from symbolically anticipating the death of their relatives due to
violent events (also experienced by them), and simultaneously the inability to generate important
personal, family, and/or community resources to begin the mourning process for the disappearance of
their relatives. These events or conditions cause physical and/or psychological reactions in a person who
has suffered such trauma, including stress, anxiety, fear, depression, loss of self-esteem, paranoia,
blame or self-blame, desire for revenge, adopting a victim role, worsening living conditions, cultural
uprooting, rupture of social and affective networks, and changes in family roles. This phenomenon must
be given the importance it deserves as it is a problem that affects everyone, causing profound and
sometimes irreparable damage. There are policies in the Colombian state that protect this vulnerable
population (Law 387 of 1997); every aspect identified and analyzed needs to be addressed, requiring
real state support and the implementation of an action plan derived from the diagnosis of this
investigation. This research highlights the strong, intimate link between social and psychological aspects,
demonstrating their interrelationship in the individual and thus the family context. It allows for the
recognition of the consequences families suffer due to forced displacement in the municipalities of
southern Guajira. Additionally, by identifying, understanding, and analyzing this phenomenon in these
families, a diagnosis can be developed that outlines a psycho-pedagogical action plan aimed at providing
possible solutions to some of the plights caused by forced displacement within the family nucleus,
particularly in family relationships.
Keywords: Forced displacement, Psychosocial effects, Family relationships