User talk:KyleMasonVance/sandbox

I will be adding to the existing Wikipedia article “Contemporary Native American issues in the United States” and a summary of those contributions will be added to the article “Native Americans in the United States”.

Currently within the Contemporary Native American issues in the United States article there are several sections, such as: Societal discrimination and racism, Native American mascots in sports, Historical depictions in art, Terminology differences, Gambling industry, Crime on reservations, and Public health. Given that there is no sections which speak about Historical Trauma, Intergenerational Trauma, or trauma in general, I am adding a section titled Trauma with the subsections of Historical trauma, Impacts of intergenerational trauma, and Solutions. Historical trauma will give a definition and provide with two examples, Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 and Dawes Allotment Act of 1887. Impacts of intergenerational trauma will show death rates of American Indian youth, sources of substance and alcohol abuse, boarding school, and the shame factor. Solutions will describe differences in Western worldviews and American Indian worldviews, as well as culturally specific mental health practices. In addition, I will post a summary of these contributions to the Native Americans in the United States article by creating a subsection titled Trauma under the Contemporary issues section.

Historical Trauma

Historical Trauma is described as collective emotional and psychological damage throughout a person’s lifetime and across multiple generations (Myhra, 2011). American Indians experience historical trauma through the effects of colonization such as wars and battles with the U.S. military, assimilation, forced removal, and genocide amongst others. Even though many American Indians did not experience first hand these traumatic events, they are still affected by them. Events such as the Wounded Knee Massacre are examples of historical trauma that span across generations. On December 29th, 1890, over 200 Lakota were killed. More than half of them were women and children and all were unarmed. Soldiers even shot women in the back who were fleeing. Unanswered pain from the Wounded Knee Massacre is still felt and has been related to present day substance abuse and violence (Weaver & Congress, 2010). This is one event among many in which American Indians were exterminated in a genocidal manner.

The loss of lands are also instrumental to the effect of historical trauma on American Indians. Four-fifths of American Indian land was lost due to the Dawes Allotment Act of 1887. The U.S. government gave American Indian men sections of land and opened the “surplus” to white settlers and government interests. The understanding of American Indian’s relationship to land is much more than a physical place, it is the bases for their entire worldview and well-being. The psychological effects of the Dawes Allotment Act can be better appreciated when looking at American Indians relationship to land, which is similar for all Indian tribes. The land is the origin of the People, who came out of the earth, and is the interdependent and spiritual link to all things (Braveheart-Jordan & Debruyn, 1995).

Impacts of Intergenerational Trauma

American Indian youth are confronted with the burden of intergenerational trauma; trauma experienced by family members that is passed from one generation to the next. Often youth begin to take on these traumas and can abuse alcohol and drugs to the point of death in some cases. American Indian Adolescents exceed the national average for alcohol and drug related deaths; being 1.4 and 13.3 times higher (Paul, Lusk, Becton, & Glade, 2017). A study looking at two generations of American Indians and their relationship to psychological trauma found that participants who experienced traumatic events early in their lives were usually related to substance abuse of the offender. These experiences have shown to be associated with the beginning of their own substance abuse (Myhra & Wieling, 2014). The abuse of alcohol and drugs are unhealthy coping mechanisms that many American Indians learn to use at a young age. A person’s substance abuse can be described as a defense mechanism against the user’s emotions and trauma (Cole, 2006). For American Indians alcoholism is a symptom of trauma passed from generation to generation and influenced by oppressive genocidal behaviors and policies by the dominant Euro-American society (Coyhis & Simonelli, 2008).

Many American Indians were assimilated into the Euro-American culture through boarding schools that were designed to civilize them. “Kill the Indian and save the man” was the motto and belief (Grayshield, Rutherford, Salazar, Mihecoby, & Luna, 2015). After hundreds of years of oppression and annihilation, American Indians have developed a heavy sense of shame in relation to their trauma. Shame can be described as the belief that one is bad, horrible, impaired, tainted, dishonorable, worthless, and more (Cole, 2006).

Solutions for Trauma

Many researchers, psychologists, counselors, and social workers are calling for culturally competent practitioners as well as using culturally appropriate practices when working with American Indian clients. This is largely due to the difference of worldviews between American Indians and Euro-Americans. American Indians do not view mind, body, and soul as separate from each other or themselves as the Western worldview does. American Indians believe all is connected and related to each other (Cole, 2006). American Indian psychologists have been asked to use mental health practices that cultivate American Indian values rather than using conventional ways of counseling (Willmon-Haque & Bigfoot, 2009). The Wellbriety Movement creates a space for American Indians to learn how to reconnect with their culture by using culturally specific principles to become and remain sober (Paul et al., 2017). Some examples are burning sage, cedar, and sweetgrass as a means to cleanse physical and spiritual spaces, verbally saying prayers and singing in one’s own tribal language, and participating in tribal drum groups and ceremonies as part of meetings and gatherings (Coyhis & Simonelli, 2008).

References

Braveheart-Jordan, M., & DeBruyn, L. (1995). So She May Walk in Balance: Integrating the Impact of Historical Trauma in the Treatment of Native American Indian Women. In J. Adleman & G. M. Enguidanos (Eds.), Racism in the Lives of Women: Testimony, Theory, and Guides to Antiracist Practice (pp. 345-366). Binghamton, New York: Harrington Park Press.

Cole, N. (2006). Trauma and the American Indian. In T. M. Witko (Ed.), Mental Health Care for Urban Indians: Clinical Insights from Native Practitioners (pp. 115-130). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Coyhis, D., & Simonelli, R. (2008). The Native American Healing Experience. Substance Use & Misuse, 43. 1927-1949. doi: 10.1080/10826080802292584

Grayshield, L., Rutherford, J. J., Salazar, S. B., Mihecoby, A. L., & Luna, L. L. (2015). Understanding and Healing Historical Trauma: The Perspectives of Native American Elders. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 37(4). 295-307. doi: 10.17744/mech.37.4.02

Myhra, L. L. (2011). “It runs in the family”: Intergenerational Transmission of Historical Trauma Among Urban American Indians and Alaska Natives in Culturally Specific Sobriety Maintenance Programs. American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research, 18(2). 17-40. National Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research.

Myhra, L. L., & Wieling, E. (2014). Psychological Trauma Among American Indian Families: A Two-Generation Study. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 19. 289-313. doi: 10.1080/15325024.2013.771561

Paul, T. M., Lusk, S. L., Becton, A. B., & Glade, R. (2017). Exploring the Impact of Substance Abuse, Culture, and Trauma on American Indian Adolescents. Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling, 48(1). 31-39.

Weaver, H., & Congress, E. (2010). The Ongoing Impact of Colonization: Man-made Trauma and Native Americans. In A. Kalayjian & D. Eugene (Eds.), Mass Trauma and Emotional Healing Around the World: Rituals and Practices for Resilience and Meaning-Making (pp. 211-226). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.

Willmon-Haque, & S., Bigfoot, D. S. (2009). Violence and the Effects of Trauma on American Indian and Alaska Native Populations. In R. Geffner, D. Griffin & J. Lewis III (Eds.), Children Exposed to Violence: Current Issues, Interventions, and Research (pp. 48-63). New York: Routledge.

KyleMasonVance (talk) 21:50, 11 August 2017 (UTC)