The Mental Health of Communities Affected by the Internal Armed Conflict in Peru

This research seeks to approach the content of social representations held by professionals of Peru's Ministry of Health regarding the population that is a victim of political violence, particularly with respect to the effects on their mental health. The relevance of the research is grounded in the idea that, at this point in the post-conflict reconstruction and reparation process, it is essential that initiatives aimed at generating improvements for the population affected by political violence overcome the communication and relationship gaps and barriers between the population and health professionals, as evidenced in previous studies. To this end, it is important to understand the system of ideas and values shared by the group of professionals in permanent contact with the population, as this will help to better understand the possibilities and difficulties of work that requires a comprehensive and community-oriented approach, aimed at repairing the mental health of the population affected by political violence.