Critical approach to understanding grief due to violent losses: the clinical-community perspective

Abstract

The present paper reviews a series of research projects on the mourning processes of mothers whose children have been assassinated, in many cases by the State. These findings, produced through qualitative methodology, particulary with in-depth interviews, have evidenced the limitations of classical theories on mourning. The suffering reported by the interviewed mothers shows the relevance of poverty, inequality, political abuse, stigmatization, as well as gender issues in these experiences. Factors that are commonly overlooked when working with clinical perspectives oriented towards the individual level. Through this review, the article discusses the advantages of critical revisions using a clinical-community perspective to understand and attend to the political, cultural, economic and historic dimensions of suffering that often accompany more individual aspects. The relevance of this discussion in a complex political context, as is the case of Venezuela, is emphasized.