Abstract

DE SANTACRUZ, Cecilia; CHAMS, Wadeth  and  FERNANDEZ DE SOTO, Paola. Colombia: violence and mental health. The opinion in psychiatry. rev.colomb.psiquiatr. [online]. 2006, vol.35, n.1, pp.30-46. ISSN 0034-7450.

Antecedents: In the 1990’s an increase in the number of references about violence was noted, as well as its association with mental health and the role Psychiatry should play. Objetive: to explore the contributing literature from Colombian Psychiatry to the understanding of public violence as a national problem between 1993 and 2003. Materials and Methods: This research has a qualitative design. The search collected existing knowledge, among 75 documents written by psychiatrists (as main or collaborative authors). Results: 43% journal papers (including editorials), 25% textbook chapters, 25 % books and brochures, 7% newspaper articles and others. 55% were produced after 1998. The vast majority (81%) were theoretical (major reviews, essays and educational material). There were 53 different authors, 6 of them wrote 36% of the documents. Seven were female (13%), two of them among those of more productions. In 63% of the documents there was only one author. Violence was the main theme in the most papers, sometimes descriptive (terrorist, childhood, homicidal). The outcomes were analyzed regarding violence and mental health (causes, characteristics, and consequences) and the role of Psychiatry. Conclusion: This paper leads to the analysis of the different stages of existing knowledge, its strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities for expansion regarding a complex problem that each day requires further and better understanding.

Keywords : Violence; mental health; psychiatry.

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