Political violence, traumatism and the (re)creation of clinical professions. Towards a clinical approach to social responsibility in dealing with psychosocial traumatisms

Situations of political violence cause psychic and social traumatisms of immense scale and for the long run. These psychosocial traumatisms destroy the professions treating the psychic and social sufferings of others. What is required is the (re)mobilization and even (re)creation of those clinical professions. The authors illustrate and develop their remarks in basing themselves on two clinical research projects carried out, respectively, in Chile and in Rwanda - following the dictatorship (1973-1990) and the genocide (1994). Such research work contributes to re-establishing a clinical approach to social responsibility which attempts to restore the social and psychic possibilities to respond to others after attempts, in one way or another, to reduce them to nothing. The article analyses and articulates the processes of coercion and expropriation at work between self and other in the political violence phenomena studied. It calls for dialoguing with the various and multiple forms of attacks on social responsibility which together call out to be recognized and taken in charge of - clinically, politically and epistemologically