4/21/2024 0 Comments Define intergenerational traumaThey are trying to understand the persistent nature of trauma-induced symptoms that continue to affect the well-being of many Indigenous individuals, their families and their communities.ĭr. Psychological and sociological researchers are exploring theories about how trauma is transmitted from one High levels of Indigenous unemployment, a disproportionate number of Indigenous people involved in the justice system, high rates of Indigenous homelessness in urban centres and poor housing conditions in many First Nations communities all share a rootĬause: Canada’s residential school policy. You have a whole society affected by isolation, loneliness, sadness, anger, hopelessness and pain. In her 1991 work, Impact of Residential Schools and Other Root Causes of Poor Mental Health, Maggie Hodgson summarizes the cumulative impact of the loss of parenting knowledge and skills across generations: If you subject one generation to that kind of parenting and they become adults and have children those children become subjected to that treatment and then you subject a third generation to a residential school system the same as the first two generations. They make up more than 52 per cent of children in the care of child welfare authorities. While Indigenous children represent less than 8 per cent of children under 14 years of age in Canada, The effects of these chaotic family systems can be seen in the high rates of family violence and domestic partner abuse. Many are ill-prepared to nurture their own children. With little experience of nurturing family environments from which to draw, generations of residential school Survivors struggle with residual trauma. Residential schools included parenting models based on punishment, abuse, coercion and control. In a national survey conducted between 20, members of First Nations communities identified managing substance useĪs the number-one challenge for community wellness ( see Social Conditions of Indigenous Peoples in Canada). These range from heightened feelings of anger, anxiety, low self-esteem and depression to post-traumatic stress disorder and high rates of suicide, among other things. On an individual level, the long-term impact of residential school experiences has left many former students facing significant psychological challenges ( see Mental Health). Many children experienced psychological, spiritual, physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their so-called caregivers in the residential school system ( see Child Abuse). The Holocaust and having immature dependency.Īs early as the 2010s, researchers began examining the intergenerational effects of the residential school system on Indigenous people and communities across Canada.įrom Individual Trauma to Intergenerational Trauma Some noted their specific behaviour patterns, including being overly protective of their parents, needing a high level of control, exhibiting an obsession with Studies described high rates of psychological distress among children of Holocaust Survivors. His paper focused on family dynamics, particularly between parent and child ( see Family Studies). Rakoff wrote one of the first articles on the topic. Preliminary studies have focused on Holocaust SurvivorsĪnd their offspring ( see Canada and the Holocaust). The phenomenon is often examined as part of research into historical trauma. All of those reactions to trauma (inability to connect, perpetual fear, anger, distrust, and more) can be passed along to your children.The study of intergenerational trauma, which researchers also call “transgenerational trauma,” is a developing field. Or you become deeply distrustful of people in power because they've destroyed your family before and teach your children to feel the same. Or perhaps the trauma of being separated from your child makes you feel overcome with grief, desperation, or rage and you're unable to be a caring parent to your other children. That unimaginable trauma of having your loved one ripped away from you might make you so terrified of losing another child that you emotionally detach and don't allow yourself to show love to another child again. Imagine you're a slave whose first child was taken from you and sold to another plantation owner. It's visible in American history with the wrongful displacement of Native Americans, the incarceration of Japanese-Americans in internment camps, and the centuries of brutal slavery. But you don't have to go abroad to understand the magnitude of intergenerational trauma.
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