Migration, Social Catastrophes and Traumas in Argentina. Mental Health Interventions with Children and Adolescents

This paper aims at reflecting on the impact of social catastrophes and crises that have caused personal and social traumas in recent Argentine history. The possibility of processing social traumas requires the intervention of social practices that involve the reconstruction of social bonds and the lifting of the denial of responsibility for the crime. The authors give an account of Argentine's social catastrophes and address the complexity of the subjective processes of individuals who have lived immersed in disturbing and violent situations or in permanently stressful contexts for prolonged periods of time. The military dictatorship (1976-1984), the blasting of the Central Jewish Community Headquarters (1994), and the economic bankruptcy (2001-2004) are related along with their sequels, all of which have produced deep injuries to the mental health of a considerable segment of the population. The history of the beginnings and expansion of psychoanalysis in Argentina is reviewed in an attempt to explain how the distressing vicissitudes of democracy and the coexisting social catastrophes have caused psychoanalysts along with mental health professionals to become increasingly concerned with the best methods to deal with patients who have undergone severe trauma due to the socio-economic and political events. The authors' personal experience working at mental health institutions and as members of the teams which developed assistance programs are presented, as well as several conceptual developments, programs and investigations generated by Argentine psychoanalysts who have been actively committed to social work from that time onwards. It is concluded that it should be therapeutically beneficial to build creative networks between mental health intervention, psychotherapy, community projects and research. These networks can generate new and deeper understanding about the overlap between individual trauma and social trauma which may lead to the design of programs appropriate to each particular community's needs.