Exploring The Impact Of Historical Trauma On Individuals And Cultures In Society

HISTORICAL TRAUMA SUMMARY 1

Historical Trauma Summary
Quinetta Randolph, Shannon Silva, Carmen Nelson and Angela Hill
BSHS 345
19 January 2015
Professor Seanee Alexander

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Through research this paper will explain the impact of historical trauma on: individuals, families and cultures within society. Historical trauma and unresolved grief is the damage that ethnic and racial communities may suffer from psychological violence that is passed on from generation to generation.(Diller, 2011) This type of trauma exceeds an individual 's lifespan and across generations, caused by one or more traumatic experiences. For example, Native Americans are still suffering due to historical atrocities such as loss of lives, land, and culture due to past events. This leads us into the individual impact historical trauma has.
The impact of historical trauma on individuals has many different aspects but the most important is the psychological damage caused. Historical trauma can
affect the way individuals live their everyday lives, the way they see themselves, and the relationships they have with others. The psychological damage caused from the historical trauma on the individual becomes a constant reminder, preventing people from living a productive life. With the individual being affected the family product is now reviewed.
The impact of historical traumas and the effects on families can include but is not limited to: pain, anger, depression, resentment.
The families of the Holocaust had to endure some of the hardest life lessons that any race had to deal with. The children had to watch as their parents were taken away from them and some of the them had to watch as their parents were killed. Because of this treatment the children experienced a lot of pain, anger, depression and resentment for the people responsible for their trauma. In doing research Weissmark (2004) found that when people experience a measure of compassion for one another’s well being one begins to discern certain HISTORICAL TRAUMA SUMMARY
3 critical dimensions so that each one can move ahead emotionally. This brings us to our final subject, of impact on cultures and societies.
The impact of historical trauma on cultures and societies expands much farther than one 's personal experience and historically we have had many examples of this in our human race. Slavery for example ended in 1865 but has had lasting effects on the African American culture as well as our entire nation as a whole. There have actually been scientific studies that lead theorists to believe that these historical memories can be passed down through generations by our DNA so even if an event happened four or five generations ago, they can still have lasting impacts on children to this day.
In conclusion, as a group we have researched and explained the impact of historical trauma on: individuals, families and cultures within society. First by explaining the impact of historical trauma. Next, the impact of historical trauma was assessed on individuals notting its effects on the overall function of a person. Then, The impact of historical traumas and the effects on families was reviewed, showing pain, anger, depression, resentment within the unit. Finally, the impact of historical trauma on cultures and societies was reviewed showing the expansion past an individuals experience.

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References
Diller, Jerry, V. (2011). Cultural Diversity: A Primer for the Human Services (4th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage.

Weissmark, M. S. (2004). Justice matters: Legacies of the Holocaust and World War II.
New York: Oxford University Press.