Psychological effects on families subjected to enforced and prolonged separations generated under life threatening situations

Separations enforced by, or which incorporate, psychological threat have the potential to cause the development of immediate and long-term psychological and psychiatric symptoms in family members. These kinds of separations also affect eventual reunion and re-integration processes that the family unit must pass through when separation ends. This paper will review the literature dealing with the psychological and psychiatric consequences generated by enforced separations of the family unit with a particular emphasis on family members who are left behind. Consideration of this literature is important in planning psychological and psychiatric care for those affected by these kinds of separations.