Emotional Conditions Of Orphaned Adults In Their Childhood Due To The Colombian Armed Conflict

Abstract

The following study describes the emotional changes experienced by people who were orphaned during their childhood due to the armed conflict in Colombia. A research with a qualitative methodology was carried out, in which, through four in-depth interviews carried out with the victims, it was shown that children and adolescents must assume roles that do not correspond to them, such as the financial burden of their home, raising their siblings, and the abandonment of their education and childhood dreams. The interviewees narrated how they faced displacement and forced recruitment and how they had to get used to new family nuclei and institutions. Their descriptions reflect that they have assumed the development of a childhood,
youth, and adulthood dealing with grief and unresolved losses, such as living emotionally mutilated for the rest of their lives, as they mentioned. Other relevant findings of the study are the behaviors of social isolation and physical consequences that the victims develop, even in adulthood, because of the emotional impact of the violent loss of their parents due to the conflict. This research highlights the importance of recognizing minors orphaned by the conflict as victims, and accompanying them in the process of mourning the death of their relatives, in times closer to the traumatic event, as well as providing tools, based on real experiences, that allow them to adapt to their new family and life dynamics with the support of mental health professionals and family counselors.