title: [The Testimony. Contributions to the Construction of Historical Memory].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Testimony is a complex act that contributes significantly to the elaboration of mourning, both individually and on a collective level. This is the central idea that is discussed in the text, using as a basis, the results of research conducted as a pilot intervention in the year 2010 for Visible Victims Foundation, and was then replicated in four other regions. In 1998 the National Liberation Army attacked the pipeline OCENSA causing severe damage to the people of Machuca (Segovia, Antioquia). In 2010 the psychologist Ligia Rascovsky implemented an intervention strategy to support the construction of individual and collective memory among survivors of the attack, who, in addition to serious injuries, suffered physical and psychosocial after effects such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The results of this work are used to understand the relevance of the testimony in the psychosocial recovery processes, which is a major challenge for Colombian society today.
  
  
  METHODS
  The type of study was psychosocial intervention in 43 adults of both sexes, Machuca residents who were affected by the bombing, and agreed to voluntarily participate in designed workshops. The workshops followed experiential type techniques (psychodrama, psycho-fantasies, etc.), in which the purpose was to identify the damage by developing testimonial memory of what happened.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The workshops express the emotions of grief, recognize the injustice of suffering, fight memory defense that justifies violence and raising awareness of human rights. It also facilitated the process of dignity, empowerment and security in personal and collective reconstruction. In expressing their memoirs thus, they could be free from fear and gain more confidence in themselves as individuals and as a social group, as seen in the formation of individual leadership. These results are the basis of the discussion presented.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this context it has been found that the testimonial narrative is an instrument of personal and social healing, as demonstrated in the workshops held with the inhabitants of Machuca, and made with a thousand other people in other locations. The testimony is essential to recognize the dignity and thus reconstruct individual memory from the collective memory. This work provides sufficient testimonial evidence to propose lines of work in the interests of psychosocial policy in order to combine the search for truth and reconstruction of collective memory, along with to the care of victims, and reparation and social reconciliation in Colombia.
authors.affiliation: Médico Psiquiatra, Profesor emérito de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Director Científico de la Escuela de Comunicación Social y Periodismo de la Universidad Sergio Arboleda y de la Fundación Víctimas Visibles, Líder del Grupo Investigación COPE 2000, Categoría A1 del Colciencias, Colombia. Electronic address: isrova39@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ismael
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Roldán
keywords: Estrés postraumático; Individual and collective memory; Memoria individual y colectiva; Post-traumatic stress; Psychosocial workshops; Talleres psicosociales; Testimonio; Testimony