^les^aEl objetivo de esta investigacion es analizar las implicaciones psicologicas generadas por eventos de subita ocurrencia, como el secuestro o la extorsion, que generan, en la victima y su circulo familiar mas cercano, un desequilibrio y desorganizacion cognitiva, conductual, emocional, fisica, economica y social, que puede empeorar por las diferentes creencias y conductas irracionales aprendidas y retenidas. La muestra poblacional estuvo conformada por cinco hombres y cinco mujeres, residentes en la ciudad de Santiago de Cali (Colombia), que fueron victimas de secuestro y extorsion. Se describen las creencias y las conductas presentes, tanto en las victimas como en los familiares, y a partir de los postulados de la terapia racional emotiva de Albert Ellis, se analiza como estos comportamientos afectan aun mas el proceso ambiguo y complejo que deben enfrentar. La recoleccion de informacion se logro mediante la entrevista en profundidad. Los resultados revelaron que las victimas se sienten responsables, porque no evitaron estos infortunados sucesos por si mismas; encuentran dificultades para afrontar responsabilidades y generan sentimientos de inseguridad, inferioridad y desconfianza, asi como el desconocimiento de las propias capacidades. En cuanto a los familiares, sufren perturbaciones emocionales, sumadas a los sentimientos de inutilidad, agresividad, culpa o desinteres, estres y enfermedades psicosomaticas, asi como el aislamiento o la verguenza.^len^aThis research is aimed at analyzing the psychological implications generated by the sudden occurrence of unexpected events, such as kidnap or extortion, by which victims and their closest family circle are fall into a situation of turmoil, unbalance, and cognitive, behavioral, emotional, physical, economical and social disorder likely to worsen according to different either learned or retained and often irrational beliefs and conducts. The population sample consisted of five men and five women, all of them residing in the city of Cali (Colombia), who had been victims of kidnapping and extortion. In this article, beliefs and conducts present in both the victims and their relatives are described and, based on the postulates of Albert Ellis's rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT), an analysis is made of how these behaviors tend to affect in greater manner the ambiguous and complex process must confront. Information collection was possible through in-depth interviews. The results revealed that victims feel in some way responsible for their fate, because, as say. they did not, by themselves, prevent those unfortunate events from happening; meet obstacles to confront their responsibilities, giving rise to feelings of insecurity, inferiority and mistrust, as well as ignorance of their own abilities and qualities. As for the family members, suffer emotional distress and disturbances added to feelings of uselessness, aggressiveness, guilt or lack of interest, as well as stress, psychosomatic illnesses, and isolation or shame.