Historical Trauma

Historical Trauma and Its Effects on Native American Individuals, Families, & Communities

American Indian and Alaskan Natives have experienced many traumatic events over successive generations that continue to have enduring consequences on families and communities (Campbell, 2008, p.316). A history of ethnic and cultural genocide exists within the Native American community through the U. S. Government’s policies of forced relocation, forced removal of children sent to boarding schools, and prohibition of spiritual and cultural practices. Community massacres and the introduction of European diseases also had devastating effects on Native people. The ability to fully understand the ramifications of intergenerational trauma is limited by current diagnostic models that can only account for individual trauma in the recent past. Posttraumatic stress disorder captures some of the elements of trauma experienced by American Natives but fails to provide a multidimensional framework. The Holocaust Model of Intergenerational Trauma was the beginning of understanding of this concept. The major difference for American Indian people was that the losses are not confined to a single catastrophic period; but rather they are ongoing and present (Whitbeck, Adams, Hoyt, Chen, 2004, p. 120).
Historical trauma is a collective concept referring to historically traumatic events that are transmitted intergenerationally as descendents continue to identify emotionally with ancestral suffering (Brave Heart, 1999a, 1999b as cited in Campbell p.321). Mainstream models tend to shift the focus to the negative effects that can occur but are just beginning to focus on how people maintain wellness. Perceptions of historical loss continue to be very salient in the minds of many adults in the current generation and these thoughts about historical loss appear to be associated with symptoms of emotional distress (Whitbeck, et al., p.127).
Although there is a great deal of variation in the events associated with historical trauma, it is possible to identify three distinguishing characteristics that are prevalent throughout American Indian and Alaskan Native Society (Campbell p.321). First, these events were usually widespread and witnessed by many community members. Second, the events generated high levels of collective distress and mourning in contemporary communities. Finally, outsiders with malicious and malevolent intent perpetrated the events. Responses on the individual, familial, and community levels are distinct but clearly interrelated. Individual responses are influenced by familial responses, and responses at both the individual and familial levels are dependent on the community level responses to historical trauma. Community responses are constantly reinforced by actions at the individual and family levels (Campbell p.322). Everything we do affects everyone else either implicity or explicity because we are all one global community.