Hope Under Siege - State Terror Versus Family Support in Chile (Paperback)

This text studies the applications of psychotherapeutic principles and techniques beyond consulting and into the larger world of political and social reality. The volume focuses on incarcerated political and social reality. The volume focuses on incarcerated political prisoners in Pinochet's Chile- people who have been kidnapped off the streets, stolen from their families and communities, denied due process of law, and tortured and abused. Yet, they exhibit hope and courage to extraordinary degrees. Beyond the ordeals of the prisoners, there is the plight of the families left behind who must deal with poverty, oppression and fear for missing loved ones. They too exhibit hope and courage beyond the ordinary. It is the author's stated purpose to understand and reveal to the reader the psycho- and social dynamics that allow families to be the front line of resistance against state sponsored torture and oppression. The volume is thus an unusual and valuable contribution to the study of family systems under extreme duress. Moreover, the volume demonstrates not only the far-reaching possibilities that exist when psychotherapeutic techniques and knowledge are used to further the goals of a political state.