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European settlers colonized the Indigenous people living in North America as early as 1492. About 500 hundred years later, researchers coined the term Indigenous Historical Trauma to explain how the effects of colonization caused disproportionate health inequalities in Indigenous communities. (Brave Heart, 1998) Indigenous Historical Trauma (IHT) derives from the practices of colonization which includes, and is not limited to, genocide and the control over Indigenous peoples’ lives through Indian boarding schools (Gone et al., 2019). Gone et al. (2019) uses a systematic review methods to “explore the associations between IHT and adverse health outcomes for Indigenous peoples in the United States and Canada” in their article, “The Impact of Historical Trauma on Health Outcomes for Indigenous Population in the USA and Canada: A Systematic Review”.

The intention of Indian boarding schools was to literally “kill the indian in him, and save the man” (Pratt, 1892/1973, p 261) Colonizers like Richard Henry Pratt stole Indigenous children from their families and communities to attend an industrial school where they expelled Indigenous cultural practices (Gone et al., 2019). Schools demanded that the identities of every Indigenous student was stripped away. That meant Indigenous students’ hair was cut off or they were punished for speaking their Indigenous language (Gone et al., 2019). Residential schools were places that lacked love, comfort, calmness, and life. (Gone et al., 2019).

The stress that Indigenous children underwent while in Indian boarding schools resulted to depression (Gone et al., 2019). Descendants of boarding school survivors inherently carry historical trauma for generations and the issues that current Indigenous students face are the “challenges to identifying consistently robust patterns of psychological injury or harm from ancestral experiences with colonial violence and oppression” (Gone et al., 2019, p. 32). Therefore, the term IHT can be used to express the unexplainable emotions and traumatic experiences that Indigenous people face. Identifying IHT helps with easily recognizing the “psychological distress and health disparities” (Gone et al., 2019, p. 29) link to current Indigenous communities.

References

Brave Heart, M. Y. H. (1998). The return to the sacred path: Healing the historical trauma and historical unresolved grief response among the Lakota through a psychoeducational group intervention. Smith College Studies in Social Work, 68,  287-305. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00377319809517632

Gone, J. P., Hartmann, W. E., Pomerville, A., & Wendt, D. C. (2019). The impact of historical trauma on health outcomes for indigenous population in the USA and Canada: A systematic review. American Psychological Association, 74(1), 20-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/amp0000338

Pratt, R. H. (1973). The advantages of mingling Indians with Whites. In F.P. Prucha (Ed.), Americanizing the American Indians: Writings by the “Friends of the Indian” 1880-1900 (p. 250-271). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (Original work published 1892) http://dx.doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674435056.c39