Social relations and mental health of migrant mothers and children in Medellín, Colombia

Abstract

In Medellín, the migration of Venezuelan families has increased, whose mental health has been studied in terms of its problems and pathologies, but mental health addresses more than its negative meaning. The objective of this article is to identify the discursive practices on mental health, according to the perspective of migrant mothers living in the La Iguaná neighborhood. A constructionist study was carried out, supporting mental health as a dimension of social relations, in the gender approach and in the perspective of discursive practices and production of meanings. Using the snowball technique, 20 women were gathered into two discussion groups. Thematic categorical analysis was used to interpret the information, with three categories standing out: mental health associated with cognitive, psychological and relational capacities of mothers; relations and territory; and affiliate relationships. It is concluded that the social and affiliate relationships in the participants support a mental health that broadens the psychopathological vision to which the studies that reduce the migrant condition to a diagnosis tend to; allowing people to be seen in their links and to conceive health care from other points of view, different from that of the disease.