Historical trauma, trauma often passed down through generations is not a new concept in Indian Country. Substance abuse, poverty, and mental health issues are just some of the ways this trauma has manifested. The author proposes a series of actions to help Indigenous communities heal from the trauma they’ve experienced, including: 1) Intergenerational recognition 2)intergenerational […]
According to author Joseph Boyden, “Attawapiskat is a microcosm of intergenerational trauma.” The community is plagued with issues of suicide, poverty, substance abuse, and painful memories of the country’s residential school era. Boyden elaborates with, “You can’t attempt cultural genocide for 140 years, for seven generations—the last of these schools closing their doors in 1996—and […]
Extreme and traumatic events can change a person — and often, years later, even affect their children. Researchers have now unmasked a piece in the puzzle of how the inheritance of traumas may be mediated. The phenomenon has long been known in psychology: traumatic experiences can induce behavioural disorders that are passed down from one […]
In a powerful op-ed piece, retired physician Gabor Maté speaks about the issues that plague First Nations communities as the result of colonialism and the traumatic residential school era. The current living conditions of many First Nations people remains largely unknown by many Canadians, and for the healing process to begin, this needs to change. Maté […]
An assistant professor of psychiatry, Amy Bombay, has studied how trauma is passed through generations specifically, “through a kind of genetic memory.” While trauma is passed through social and psychological pathways there is evidence that epigenetics is also a method of transmission for trauma. This has been studied in the children of Holocaust survivors “in […]
The students of residential school survivors are speaking out about how their parent’s trauma has affected them. Their experiences range from growing up in homes filled with violence and poverty to being raised in loving homes, but still lacking educational support. As the next generation, they are trying to pick up the pieces and better […]
Several First Nations youth testified about student deaths at Thunder Bay that happened between 2000-2001. They also explain how the residential school experience has impacted their families, has been passed down through generations, and has perpetuated a cycle of despair and violence. Several students talked about their personal struggles and what needs to be done […]
Science has shown the connection between trauma and illness, and how it affects our minds, bodies, and genes. The science of epigenetics proposes that trauma experienced by ancestors is passed through genes and this impacts how someone reacts to trauma and stress. However, this is not news in Indian Country where people are wondering what […]
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is something we are now accustomed to attributing to the effects of war. We used to call it “shell shock.” Today we know that trauma is not only experienced individually, but shared through generations as well. Researchers have known for awhile that trauma experienced by mothers during pregnancy can affect children […]
American Indians experience massive losses of lives, land, and culture from European contact and colonization resulting in a long legacy of chronic trauma and unresolved grief across generations. This phenomenon, labeled as historical unresolved grief, contributes to the current social pathology of high rates of suicide, homicide, domestic violence, child abuse, alcoholism and other social […]
Ojibwe journalist Mary Annette Pember visited an Alaskan community to examine historical trauma and mental health practices. She says the troubled lives experienced by many Native Americans is a reflection of our past, citing boarding school as one of many examples. Native American history of displacement, dislocation, and forced removal of children has exacerbated the […]
This case report describes historical trauma on a rural American Indian Reservation and outlines participatory action approaches for nurses. The prevalence of historical trauma often goes unnoticed by healthcare professionals because of its multifaceted nature and subsequent lack of provider understanding. Nurses accustomed to looking only for physical and psychosocial signs of trauma may not […]
