Le interazioni sociali richiedono che un agente sia in grado di selezionare ed elaborare informazioni ambientali rilevanti, che sia situato in un contesto complesso, e che interagisca con altri agenti, rispettando le opportunità e i vincoli di contesto. Riconoscere noi stessi e gli altri come agenti intenzionali è un passaggio cruciale per il processo generale di comprensione sociale e, in particolare, per la nostra capacità di percepire le intenzioni e gli scopi altrui. Tali competenze sociali sostengono il nostro sviluppo fisico, cognitivo e affettivo promuovendo interazioni adattive. Di conseguenza, una disfunzione di tali competenze può compromettere gravemente l’autonomia e la qualità di vita. Si ritiene che un sistema distribuito medi la percezione di agentività e degli stati mentali altrui, ma la struttura interna dei processi che costituiscono la nostra capacità di comprendere i nostri simili e di interagire adeguatamente è tuttora per buona parte sconosciuta. Il progetto ha come obiettivo indagare le fasi iniziali di tali processi e, in particolare, l’elaborazione precoce di cues sociali (social affordances) per la detezione di agentività e opportunità d’interazione in contesti sociali. È strutturato in tre studi principali: il primo mira a esplorare i correlati elettrofisiologici (ERPs e dati di source localization) dell’elaborazione di informazioni visive per la detezione di agentività in interazione; il secondo mira a indagare possibili marcatori (ERPs) del profilo delle competenze di comprensione sociale associate alla sindrome di Williams; il terzo ha testato, tramite TMS, il ruolo causale di rTPJ nel mediare l’elaborazione pre-riflessiva di agentività e intenzionalità nel comportamento osservato. / Social interactions require an agent to be able to select and process relevant environmental information, to be situated in a complex context and to interact with other agents, according to the opportunities and boundaries of that context. Sensing ourselves and detecting others as intentional agents is a crucial step for the overall social understanding process and, in particular, for our ability to perceive others’ intentions and goals. Those social skills foster our physical, cognitive and affective development by promoting adaptive interactions. Consequently, a dysfunction of such skills can seriously affect the autonomy and quality of life. A distributed system is thought to subserve the perception of agency and others’ mental states, but the internal structure of processes that constitute our ability to understand our similars and interact adequately is still largely unknown. This project aimed at investigating early stages of those processes and, in particular, the initial elaboration of social cues (social affordances) for the detection of agentivity and opportunities for interaction in social situations. It is structured in three main empirical studies: the first one aimed at looking electrophysiological correlates (ERPs and source localization data) of visual information processing for the detection of agency in interactions; the second one aimed at looking for possible markers (ERPs) of the uneven profile of basic WS social understanding; the third one tested the causal role of rTPJ in mediating pre-reflective processing of agency and intentionality from observed behaviour by means of TMS.

Il presente progetto di ricerca si occupa degli interventi di gruppo per figli di genitori separati, con la finalità di operare una riflessione di stampo metodologico sui dispositivi che sono stati analizzati e studiati in letteratura, per poi approfondire alcuni aspetti dell’intervento Gruppi di Parola, attivo in Italia. L’articolazione in tre studi, di carattere qualitativo, ha permesso di avvicinare l’oggetto di ricerca secondo prospettive e metodologie differenti. Il primo studio coincide con una rassegna sistematica narrativa, condotta al fine di sistematizzare la letteratura di livello internazionale relativa agli interventi di gruppo per figli di genitori separati che sono stati analizzati attraverso un impianto di ricerca rigoroso. Gli altri studi approfondiscono rispettivamente due aspetti del dispositivo Gruppi di Parola: gli elementi teorico-pratici che lo fondano attraverso una prospettiva etnografica focalizzata (secondo studio) e le dinamiche interattive messe in movimento durante una specifica fase rituale del processo (l’accoglienza) per mezzo di una metodologia osservativa complessa (terzo studio). / The present research project deals with group interventions for children having separated parents. Its aim is a methodological reflection about the programs analyzed and studied in the literature in order to later deepen some aspects of the Italian intervention Gruppi di Parola. The organization in three qualitative studies has allowed the researcher to approach the research object according to different perspectives and methodologies. The first study corresponds to a Systematic Narrative Review, carried out in order to systematize the international literature about the group interventions for children having separated parents which have been analyzed through a rigorous research design. The other studies respectively deepen two aspects of the intervention Gruppi di Parola: the theoretical and practical underpinnings through a focused ethnographic perspective (second study) and the interactive dynamics activated during a specific ritual phase of the process (welcoming) by means of a complex observational methodology (third study).

Nella presente ricerca, che unisce metodologie di tipo sia qualitativo che quantitativo, vengono approfonditi alcuni fattori di rischio potenziale per i “minori stranieri non accompagnati”, in riferimento alle variabili di accentuato svantaggio che caratterizzano il percorso migratorio e i processi di integrazione di questi adolescenti. / In Italy the number of foreign adolescents who experienced the event of unaccompanied migration is constantly and continuously increasing.The research goal was to assess how the early unaccompanied experience of migration, characterized by difficult conditions such as the absence of parents and/or family mandate, influenced the Self representations in autobiographical narrations, depression levels, coping strategies and ethnic identity. And the broad normative-institutional context in which several social-justice workers play a role in the process of protection and custody as well.

La tesi si focalizza sui donatori di sangue.Obiettivo del lavoro è quindi la trattazione del fenomeno donazione di sangue al fine di cogliere, nella complessità plurale delle variabili che incidono su questo gesto, la rilevanza degli elementi personali, familiari ed organizzativi connessi all’azione donativa. L’impianto di ricerca è stato costruito procedendo in particolare da un’intuizione di Ferguson (2005): la donazione di sangue dev’essere studiata come un processo di stadi sequenziali. Questo approccio deriva dalla revisione del Transtheoretical Model di Prochaska e collaboratori (1982) sulla donazione di sangue (Ferguson, 1996; Ferguson e Chandler, 2005)e dal Volunteer Process Model di Omoto e Snyder (1995, 2000). L’azione donativa è quindi studiabile come un processo che, dall’avvicinamento iniziale, può portare alla nascita dell’Identità di Ruolo di donatore (Piliavin et al., 1999), alla ripetitività cadenzata del gesto e, quindi, alla fidelizzazione. Alla luce dell’obiettivo generale e della scelta di questi approcci, la popolazione di interesse del lavoro è ampia e varia: i primi studi si incentrano, infatti, su neodonatori; il terzo studio confronta neodonatori e donatori fidelizzati; il quarto studio, incentrato su donatori fidelizzati. La logica sequenziale “a scatole cinesi” con cui gli studi sono costruiti ha seguito anche l’altro elemento rilevante dell’obiettivo generale di questo lavoro: l’affondo sulle variabili personali, familiari ed organizzative connesse alla donazione di sangue.Il 1 studio, il cui obiettivo era Identificare tipologie specifiche di persone alla luce delle variabili della Scala Stadi di Cambiamento, mostra come coloro che si avvicinano a donare non possano essere considerati un gruppo omogeneo rispetto alla loro “prontezza” a donare. Evidente, allora, la necessità di costruire strategie di accoglienza differenziate.Il 2 studio, il cui obiettivo era Testare un modello Predittivo dell’Intenzione a Donare sangue con neodonatori, ha la peculiarità di contribuire a comprendere quali variabili intervengono nell’Intenzione a donare per i NEODONATORI.Il 3 studio conferma l’influenza della famiglia di impegnarsi in questo gesto, ed approfondisce le costellazioni motivazionali che avvicinano e che sostengono questo gesto nel tempo.Il 4 studio evidenzia, forse per la prima volta in modo chiaro, il ruolo delle variabili organizzative nell’influenzare non solo l’integrazione in associazione, ma anche la soddisfazione percepita per l’atto della donazione.La donazione di sangue, pur essendo un atto personalmente scelto, quindi, deriva da una costellazione di variabili personali, familiari ed organizzative complementari e mutualmente intersecantisi, che necessitano di essere approfondite e studiate nella loro globalità al fine di arrivare alla creazione di strategie di reclutamento e di fidelizzazione che portino alla soddisfazione totale del bisogno di scorte di sangue. / This work is focused on blood donors. This research’s purpose is the discussion of the blood donation’s phenomenon in order to grasp the complexity of plural variables affecting this gesture, the significance of personal, family and organizational action related gifts. The research starts by the revision of the Transtheoretical Model by Prochaska and colleagues (1982) on blood donation (Ferguson, 1996, Ferguson and Chandler, 2005) and the Volunteer Process Model by Omoto and Snyder (1995; 2000). The donation action has been studied as a process: by the approach, the birth of Role Identity of donor (Piliavin et al., 1999), the rhythmic repetition of the gesture, and therefore loyalty. Participants are wide and varied: the first studies focus, in fact, on neodonors; the third study compares neodonors and retained donors, the fourth study, is focused on Retained donors. The thesis is composed by four research studies. The first study’s aim is to identify genders of people on the basis of the variables of the Stages of Change Scale. It shows how the subjects who donate cannot be considered as a homogeneous group considering their "readiness" to donate. It is evident, then, the need of building strategies for different reception. The second study develops a model of the explanatory factors determining the predisposition to donate blood in neodonors will. The third study confirms the influence of the family to engage in this act, and explores the motivations that substained this act. The fourth study shows clearly, maybe for the first time, the role of organizational variables in influencing not only the integration in Avis, but also the perceived satisfaction for the act of donation. The blood donation, in spite of being a personal choice action, derives from a constellation of personal variables, complementary and mutually intersecting. this complex systems here studied in its entirety in order to create more proper recruitment and maintaining strategies that can lead to the total satisfaction of blood supply needs.

Persone con broncopneumopatia cronica ostruttiva (BPCO) possono avere diversi atteggiamenti verso la ventilazione non invasiva (NIV), inclusi il rifiuto o l’utilizzo inappropriato. Questo costituisce uno spreco di risorse pubbliche, comportando costi significativi per l'assistenza sanitaria. Lo studio mirava ad analizzare l'impatto di un breve intervento di supporto psicologico sull'aderenza alla NIV in pazienti con BPCO. E’stato condotto uno studio clinico controllato e randomizzato a due rami su 84 pazienti con BPCO e con indicazione per NIV. Il gruppo sperimentale ha ricevuto un breve supporto psicologico, che include colloqui clinici, esercizi di rilassamento e di mindfulness. I controlli hanno ricevuto cure standard e hanno guardato video educativi relativi alla gestione della malattia. Il percorso era strutturato in 4-8 sessioni in ospedale, a casa e/o in telemedicina. Sono stati valutati valori, credenze ed esperienze di NIV attraverso interviste semi-strutturate e colloqui clinici. L'intervento psicologico è risultato correlato a miglioramenti della qualità della vita e dell'aderenza. Ha permesso di delineare un modello teorico del processo di adattamento alla NIV in pazienti con BPCO. I risultati suggeriscono che questo intervento psicologico può incrementare l'accettazione e l'aderenza alla NIV nella BPCO nella pratica clinica e sottolinea l'importanza di determinare le ragioni sottostanti l’uso della NIV. / People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may have different attitudes toward non-invasive ventilation (NIV), including rejection and misuse. That is a waste of public resources and results in significant health care costs. The study aimed to analyze the impact of a brief psychological intervention on adherence to NIV among COPD patients. A two-branch randomized controlled trial was conducted with 84 COPD patients using NIV. The experimental group received psychological support, including counseling, relaxation and mindfulness-based exercises. Controls received standard care and were exposed to educational videos. The intervention was structured over 4 to 8 meetings at the hospital, at home and/or via telemedicine. Values, beliefs and experiences of NIV were assessed with semi-structured interviews. The psychological intervention was related to improvements in both adherence and quality of life. A theoretical model of the adaptation’s process to NIV in COPD patients emerged. The findings suggest that this psychological intervention could increase acceptance and adherence to NIV in COPD in clinical practice.

Clinical and research practice in the context of Autism rapidly evolved in the last decades. Finer diagnostic procedures, evidence-based models of intervention and higher social inclusivity significantly improved the possibility for autistic children to participate in the fabric of social life. In terms of health best practices, gold-standard procedures still need to be improved, and bridging research and clinical practice still presents several challenges. From the clinical standpoint, the role of process variables, predictors, mechanisms, and timing of change still requires extensive investigation in order to explain response variability and design optimized interventions, tailored to individual needs and maximally effective. Observational techniques represent the elective research methods in child development, especially in clinical contexts, due to their non-invasiveness. However, they still suffer from limited objectivity and poor quantification. Further, their main disadvantage is that they are highly time-consuming and labor-intensive. The aim of this thesis was moving forward to promote translational research in clinical practice of Autism intervention with preschool children. At first, we tried to design and apply quantitative observational techniques to longitudinally study treatment response trajectories during developmental intervention. We tried to characterize different response profiles, and which baseline predictors were able to predict the response over time. Secondly, we investigated mechanisms of change. In particular, we focused on the role of the child-therapist interaction dynamics as a possible active mediator of the process of intervention, especially in the developmental framework that stresses the importance of interpersonal aspects. We also aimed at understanding whether certain time-windows during the intervention were particularly predictive of the response, as well as which specific interaction aspects played a role. Finally, to promote the translational application of observational methods and to improve objective quantification, we proposed and validated an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system to automate data annotation in unconstrained clinical contexts, remaining completely non-invasive and dealing with the specific noisy data that characterize them, for the analysis of the child-therapist acoustic interaction. This effort represents a base building block enabling to employ downstream computational techniques greatly reducing the need for human annotation that usually prevents the application of observational research to large amounts of data . We discuss our findings stressing the importance of assuming a developmental framework in Autism, the key role of the interpersonal experience also in the clinical context, the importance of focusing on trajectories of change and the important need to promote the acquisition of large amounts of quantitative data from the clinical contexts exploiting AI-based systems to assist clinicians, improving objectivity, enabling treatment monitoring, and producing precious data-driven knowledge on treatment efficacy.

Mother child relationship is the first and the most important social relationship as it has implications on psychological and neural development of the individual. Here we investigated mother child relationship focusing on different aspects and using a combination of behavioural and neuroimaging techniques. In the first study we addressed the association between brain connectivity and interpersonal competences which are at the basis of every social interaction including the ones involved in mother-child relationship. Several studies suggests that higher White Matter (WM) integrity - an index of increased brain connectivity - , is associated with better cognition and behavioural performance. To test the hypothesis that higher WM integrity is associated with higher interpersonal competence we used Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), a neuroimaging technique which allows to study in vivo the anatomy of boundless of axons conveying information in the brain. Then we correlated this information with a self-reported measure of interpersonal competences: the Adolescent Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire (AICQ). Results indicate that Interpersonal competence is associate with higher WM integrity in several major tracts of the right hemisphere, in specific the uncinate fasciculus, the cingulum, the forceps minor, the infero-fronto occipital fasciculus, the inferior longitudinal fasciculus, and the superior longitudinal fasciculus. These results provide the first direct analysis of the neuroanatomical basis of interpersonal competencies and young adult self-reported skills in social contexts. In the second work we used the same paradigm to test one of the main assumption of the attachment theory which states that social skills highly depends on the quality of attachment relationship. Results show higher integrity in four white matter association fibers in the left hemisphere: Uncinate Fasciculus, Cingulum, Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus and Inferior Fronto Occipital Fasciculus. This result supports the idea that the quality of the attachment relationship influences the emotional and social life of the individual from childhood to adulthood. Furthermore, the research represents an explorative approach to the study of mother-child relationship in healthy population, demonstrating the feasibility of using neuroimaging tools coupled with clinical investigations. Together those studies show that efficient structural connectivity is linked with secure attachment, improved social cognition and cognitive ability. Similarities and differences emerged in these studies will be discussed at the end of Chapter 3 in particular regarding left and right hemisphere specialization. In the second part of the thesis we switched the focus on parenting behaviour. Evidence from the literature suggest an association between Axonal Integrity measured with FA and functional connectivity measured with TMS in two region involved in preparing ad executing actions: premotor and motor cortex. Moreover neuroimaging reveals that infant cries activate parts of the premotor cortical system. In line with this evidence we linked parenting and brain functional connectivity conducting a study on motor cortex excitability in response of infant cries. We used event-related transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to investigated the presence and the time course of modulation of motor cortex excitability in young adults who listened to infant cries. TMS was delivered from 0 to 250 ms from sound onset in six steps of 50 ms in 10 females and 10 males. Motor Evoked Potentials (MEPs) were recorded from the biceps brachii (BB) and interosseus dorsalis primus (ID1) muscles. Results indicate an excitatory modulation of MEPs at 100 ms from the onset of the infant cry specific to females and to the ID1 muscle. This modulation is considered as automatic response to natural cry as it was not present in response of control sounds and the effect is found at 100-ms latency which make this modulation not compatible with a voluntary reaction to the stimulus but suggests an automatic, bottom-up audiomotor association. These results indicate that the brains of adult females appear to be tuned to respond to infant cries with automatic motor excitation. This effect may reflect the greater and longstanding burden on females in caregiving infants. The second part of the thesis continue with a study addressing the natural condition in which baby cries arise when the parent is not attending for infant stimulation. In this study we investigated how infant crying, compared to control sounds, captures adults’ attentive resources. Participants were all nulliparous women and men, we investigated the effects of different sounds on cerebral activation of the default mode network (DMN) while listeners engaged in two different kind of tasks: one designed to activate the DMN ( self-referential decision task) and one designed to deactivate the DMN (syllabic counting tasks). We found a strong deactivation of DMN in woman during baby cry which suggest a shift of attention from self-referential thinking toward the baby cry stimuli. In men we found instead a weaker deactivation of DMN during woman cry while their attention was directed toward an external task and simultaneously a sudden woman crying arise. Gender differences found in our studies and in the literature will be discussed. In the third part of the thesis we investigated the ability to discriminate synchrony and asynchrony during interaction between mother and child with typical or atypical development. We tested two kind of population: in the first study we compared parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to parents of children with Typical Development (TD). In the second study we used the Autistic Quotient questionnaire to divide the sample in two groups according with their autistic traits. The relevance of this task is due to the extreme importance to promptly individuate cues of abnormal social behavior in those cases in which the child might shows deficit in the social development. We hypothesized that individual related with a child with ASD or an individual with high autistic traits, might show similar social difficulties as the individual with ASD finding more challenging to detect cue of appropriate or unappropriated social behavior. To test this hypothesis we asked parents of children with ASD and parents of children with TD to judge video of interactions between mothers and child with ASD and mothers and child with TD. Each video were 20s long and depicted either a synchrony or asynchrony interaction, as categorized by an expert clinician. Contrary to our initial hypothesis results indicate that parents of children with ASD are as accurate as parents of children with TD in discriminating synchrony and asynchrony interaction with ASD, however they are less accurate than parents of children with TD in judging interaction with TD. In the second study by testing individual with higher autistic traits (HAQ group) versus lower autistic traits (LAQ group) we confirmed this trend. Using the same paradigm we found that both groups were less accurate during asynchrony interaction. However HAQ was more accurate in judging synchrony interaction with ASD while LAQ was more accurate in judging synchrony interaction with TD. This result indicate a facilitation effects in understanding interaction which include people that share similar characteristic with the observer disconfirming the hypothesis that people with higher autistic traits would have more difficulties in understanding social interactions and pointing the attention on other factors which might contribute during this process. A discussion on the need of further investigation using neuroimaging techniques to understand similarities and differences on neural processing of social interactions is provided at the end of Chapter 4.

La capacità di esprimere adeguatamente le emozioni attraverso l’uso di strategie adattive di regolazione delle emozioni è cruciale per il sano sviluppo dei bambini. Secondo la teoria dell'attaccamento di Bowlby, la reattività e la regolazione emotiva dei bambini sono correlate ai loro stili di attaccamento. Il presente studio mira ad indagare se l'interazione tra la classificazione di attaccamento e l’espressione emotiva può predire i cambiamenti nella reattività fisiologica dei bambini durante un compito stressante. In un primo momento (T1), le rappresentazioni di attaccamento di N = 59 bambini in età scolare sono state misurate utilizzando la Child Attachment Interview. In un secondo momento (T2), i bambini hanno sostenuto un’impegnativa procedura di laboratorio standardizzata in cui dovevano cercare di risolvere una serie di puzzles risolvibili e irrisolvibili. I livelli di conduttanza cutanea (SCL), l'aritmia sinusale respiratoria (RSA) ed i livelli di cortisolo sono stati registrati come indici fisiologici durante l’intero compito. Le espressioni emotive facciali dei bambini (tristezza e vergogna) sono state codificate durante il quarto puzzle irrisolvibile. I risultati hanno evidenziato che l'espressione dell'emozione modera la relazione tra l'attaccamento evitante e le risposte fisiologiche: in alcuni compiti sono stati mostrati una RSA più bassa e dei SCL più alti; inoltre, l'interazione tra attaccamento ed espressione emotiva di ritiro era associata ad un aumento quasi significativo dei livelli di cortisolo durante l’intera esecuzione dei puzzles. I risultati rivelano che la presenza di attaccamento evitante modulata dall'espressione emotiva di ritiro induce uno stress fisiologico più elevato nei bambini. Comprendere i fattori che influenzano la reattività allo stress nei bambini è essenziale nello sviluppo di interventi che promuovano un adattamento funzionale in risposta al disagio.

Nel presente lavoro di tesi sono riportati i risultati di un innovativo progetto di ricerca longitudinale nell'ambito della psicobiologia. I recenti progressi nel campo dell'epigenetica sono stati applicati allo studio delle conseguenze di esperienze avverse precoci sullo sviluppo socio-emozionale in bambini nati fortemente pretermine. La nascita pretermine costituisce un fattore di rischio per lo sviluppo socio-emozionale, in parte per l'esposizione ad eventi stressanti (es.: dolore neonatale) durante l'ospedalizzazione in terapia intensiva neonatale (TIN). L'epigenetica si riferisce a processi biochimici altamente sensibili alle esperienze ambientali e che alterano la funzione di trascrizione di specifici geni, senza modificare la struttura della sequenza di DNA. Il candidato ha sviluppato un razionale clinicamente rilevante per la ricerca epigenetica comportamentale della prematurità. Inoltre il progetto di ricerca ha dimostrato che il livello di esposizione a procedure dolorose si associa a esiti avversi sul piano temperamentale e della risposta allo stress a tre mesi e che tale associazione è mediata da alterazioni epigenetiche a livello del gene che codifica per il trasportatore della serotonina. Le implicazioni teoriche, cliniche ed etiche di questi risultati sono trattate nella sezione conclusiva. Il progetto di epigenetica comportamentale della prematurità fornisce una nuova prospettiva teorica ed empirica sul tema dell’interazione tra genetica ed ambiente. / In the present work, the candidate reports the results of an innovative longitudinal research project in the field of psychobiology. The recent epigenetic progresses have been applied to the study of the consequences of early adverse event exposures on the socio-emotional development of very preterm infants. Preterm birth is a major concern for socio-emotional development, partly due to the exposure to adverse stressful stimulations (i.e., skin-breaking procedures) during the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) stay. Epigenetics refers to biochemical processes which are sensitive to environmental cues and which alter the transcriptional activity of specific genes without changing the DNA structure. The candidate has developed a clinically relevant rationale for preterm behavioral epigenetics (PBE). The research project has demonstrated that the early exposure to high levels of skin-breaking procedures during NICU stay associate with non-optimal temperamental profile and stress regulation at 3 months of age. This association was mediated by epigenetic modifications (DNA methylation) of the stress-related gene encoding for serotonin transporter. The theoretical, clinical and ethical implications of these findings are discussed further in the final section of the thesis. The PBE project provides a new framework for the issue of the interconnections between nature and nurture.

La presente ricerca, con un approccio qualitativo-ermeneutico, esplora il fenomeno del conflitto armato colombiano, con un focus specifico sul processo di reintegrazione sociale e sull’esperienza soggettiva come ex sequestrati e come ex guerriglieri. La ricerca consente un’esplorazione in profondità, integrando la dimensione politico-sociale con quella clinica, lasciando alla luce tre vertici d’analisi; Studio 1: le rappresentazioni sociali intorno alle figure di vittime e di carnefice e alle dinamiche relazionali del conflitto armato colombiano; 
 Studio 2: l’approccio, i metodi e le tecniche di lavoro degli operatori che si occupano di reintegrazione sociale di ex sequestrati (nella Fondazione País Libre) e di ex guerriglieri (nell’Agenzia Colombiana per la Reintegrazione, “ACR”); 
 Studio 3: le matrici familiari e i suoi principali risorse relazionali che hanno supportato i soggetti durante la loro esperienza come sequestrati e come guerriglieri e una volta rientrano in società. Sono analizzati i tre assi delle matrici familiari (le origini, i rapporti di coppia e il passaggio generazionale –Cigoli & Tamanza, 2009- e le risorse che possono alimentare la resilienza familiare (Walsh, 2005) Gli studi cercano di superare la dicotomia vittima/carnefice, che organizza l’opinione pubblica colombiana e le rappresentazioni sociali delle figure di ex-sequestrati (le vittime) ed ex-guerriglieri (i carnefici). I risultati degli studi effettuati possono fornire strumenti utili per orientare l’intervento clinico e favorire il processo di reintegrazione sociale. Si presentano a sua volta nuovi approcci che includono il lavoro decisivo delle comunità e delle famiglie, che si presentano come attori partecipativi e non passivi e vittimizzati come generalmente sono trattati. / The current research (with a qualitative-hermeneutic approach) explores the phenomenon of Colombian armed conflict. It is specifically focus on social reintegration process and the subjective experience of ex combatants and ex abducted people. The study of the phenomenon in its clinical and sociopolitical complexity, articulates three vertices of analysis: Study 1: Social representations, around the current armed conflict and its involved figures. Study 2: The principal models of intervention offered by two organizations that work directly with ex abducted people (País Libre Foundation) and with demobilized people from illegal groups (Colombian Agency for Reintegration, “ACR”). Study 3: Family patterns, and its principal relational resources tan have supported subjects during their experience as abducted or combatants and once their return to society. The three axes of family patterns were explored (the origins, the couple relationship and the generational passage –Cigoli & Tamanza-) and the resources that can support family resilience (Walsh, 2005). Results break traditional polarization on the lectures around Colombian armed conflict. The present research transcends the individual study of involved participants and of implications of traumatic facts, to explore inside their relationships and resources. New approaches are presented to orientate interventions in clinical psychology that could be helpful to social reintegration process. It is also presented a new approach that includes the decisive role of families and communities as active actors instead of passive and victimized as they have been generally treated.