06/02/2020
Mk posted this on her personal page, and we felt it was important to share as Unified Counseling:
A conversation with your mental health therapist friend ❤️
Today, I wanted to share some research and how your mental health therapist friend is conceptualizing some of the behaviors we are witnessing. I also feel it is important to recognize this post is through the lens of a white, straight, female who also has a higher level of education (to name a few.) Due to these lenses, I recognize that there will be people who read this post purely because it is posted by me- that is why I am posting it. I also recognize that this topic is dense, and a Facebook post is merely scratching the surface.
What is intergenerational trauma? We have decades of research to show that trauma human beings have endured is in our DNA. We not only have an emotional response to trauma- we have a biological one too. These findings are not new, if you do a simple google search you will see there are 50+ peer reviewed articles on this subject matter just in the last 10 years alone. No one is immune to trauma. Let me be clear- NO ONE IS IMMUNE TO TRAUMA. It impacts our gut microbiome, our neurological development, our hormone (endocrine) system, our sleep cycles, this all means it affects a person’s health. Individuals who have endured trauma in their lifetime are more likely to experience a significant health condition. Here is an article that summarizes some great research conducted by Harvard.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/past-trauma-may-haunt-your-future-health
Veterans, sexual assault survivors, domestic violence survivors, childhood adversity, individuals who grew up in homes around severe substance abuse, the list goes on. The most relevant would be people of color, and in this context black individuals. If you don’t want to read the research for yourself, I’ll give you a simplified explanation.
Hundreds of years of slavery, hundreds of years of systemic oppression, descrimination, and cultural conditioning have impacted the black community in a biological way. A black person living their life hearing the messages that you are “less than,” that you are not equal, you are not welcome here, you should “go back to Africa”, you cannot be trusted, you are to be treated differently, being followed in a store, accused of actions they did not take, seeing that white people will fear you… I could go on… has an impact on the emotional experiences of individuals of the black community. When someone who is not black, attempts to relate by saying “oh I understand, one time I…” it is a direct invalidation to the lifetime of experiences a black person has endured. The way I see it, take that “one time” and multiply it by however many years you have been alive… and now we may be nearing a comparison.
Here is a fantastic article that has compiled a great deal of research discussing this topic via the American Psychological Association.
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/02/legacy-trauma
Living a lifetime of say, 75 years, of continual messaging, threats, and a toxic belief system imposed on you by the nation you live in… yeah you better believe that is going to have an effect on you. Now we add the burden of black individuals having to teach their children how to keep themselves safe, about the history and current oppression and descrimination, of course it is going to be cyclical. For intergenerational trauma, the emotional burden of these lessons directly affects a person’s DNA. Now if you know about DNA, you know it is passed down to your offspring. So we have DNA from our ancestors. This means, this altered DNA has been passed down from generation to generation. Another example would be pregnant women who are experiencing extreme stress in domestic violence relationships. We can see the alterations in their children’s DNA, their behavior and their emotional health.
We are seeing a grief and trauma response. And with that, comes a spectrum of emotions and behaviors. This is a huge factor in one's mental health.
Typically, I like to leave readers with a “here are some things you can do!,” which I am conflicted about for this post. This post is to educate you (possibly a non-black person) on intergenerational trauma and how it is playing a role in this movement.
If I am going to leave white people with a take-away, here it is. If you are observing yourself feeling guilt, shame, a general discomfort surrounding the current protests and the murder of black people, sit with it.
-Sit with the discomfort (it’s valid, it makes you human)
-Don’t ignore it or avoid it.
-Don’t make this about you.
You can feel your feelings, validate yourself, and decide how to utilize your values and skills to act. Some things you could do are initiate conversations within your home, talk with people you know who may have differing views and discuss them, maybe you feel called to walk in the protest, maybe donate your time or money, buy literature to learn more about your role as a non-black person. Maybe you are trying to find ways to incorporate more diversity into the toys, books and media your children consume. Spend time researching political candidates to make better informed choices at the voting booth. Learn about black American history- you don’t have to agree with the approach to this movement to spend time learning about what the movement is about.
Healing is not linear. “Focusing on moving forward” does not take away the effects of intergenerational trauma black Americans have suffered. In the mental health field, we caution people when it comes to moving forward too quickly and avoiding the emotional and cognitive process of healing. We don’t tell trauma survivors to “move on from your rape.” or “You have to let go of what your abusers did to you- you have to move forward.” So let's not talk about the trauma black Americans have faced in that context. I’m not stating this is the only factor at play here, I’m saying this is a big one.
My hope is that you found this as helpful information as you journey through challenging your own biases- we ALL have them, even if we don’t want to.
