Restoring social fabrics in communities during the post-conflict through a comprehensive biopsychosocial intervention approach: strategies towards peacebuilding in Colombia

Recent evidence shows that ex-combatants, victims and other citizens chronically exposed to the Colombian armed conflict present particular and different biopsychosocial patterns with respect to the less exposed population. In particular, individuals who report a higher level of victimization in the context of the conflict tend to (1) present atypical signal modulations of the N170 component related to the processing of emotions from faces and words; (2) show behavioral results that show implicit and systematic social biases (sensitive to being measured quantitatively); and (3) present dispositions less favorable to positive attitude change and negative emotion management when interacting with other populations, even under favorable and controlled conditions. In this context, we propose a research program that will allow (1) to establish biopsychosocial phenotypes of actors with different degrees of chronic exposure to the Colombian conflict as a
methodological strategy to approach their problems and seek an interdisciplinary and personalized solution, (2) adapt interventions that modulate the reactions of victims, ex-combatants and other citizens exposed to the armed conflict derived from automatic cognitive and emotional processing, and (3) favor the impact positive in individuals exposed to the conflict of institutional initiatives such as the Comprehensive System of Justice, Truth, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-Repetition, and of public policy such as the Deliberation Tables for Reconciliation (adopted by the policy of the National Reincorporation Agency). We hope that the result of the three projects that make up this Program contribute to restoring the cognitive functions of those who are affected by prolonged exposure to war experiences, seeking to harmonize social coping and their adaptation capacities and, in doing so, rebuild the social fabric of communities in Colombia after decades in conflict, by the means provided by the institutional framework and public policy.