Most historical trauma research/prevention work over the past two decades has focused on Native populations, although the concept has been applied to groups of people who have been oppressed historically, including Armenian refugees, African Americans, and Palestinian youth, as a few examples (Mohatt et al., 2014). Some HTRs include survivor’s guilt, depression, intrusive thinking about past events/loved ones, emotional numbing, dissociation, and unpleasant thoughts/nightmares (Evans-Campbell, 2008). Historical Trauma Response (HTR) refers to the reactions that individuals and communities experience as a result of such long-term oppressive events. Historical Response and LossĪlthough many conceptualizations of trauma in general have focused on the individual effects, namely the micro and mezzo levels, historical trauma originates as a macro-level concept for investigating how a population exposed to long-term mass trauma is affected over time and generations (Sotero, 2006). These experiences can be damaging on a physical and/or emotional level for the group/community, and the trauma can then be transmitted epigenetically to future generations, especially if descendants strongly identify with their family culture/heritage (Evans-Campbell, 2008). Some examples of collective/mass trauma include the experience of indigenous boarding schools, forced relocation of people, enslavement, biological warfare, ethnic cleansing, incarceration, and genocide (Evans-Campbell, 2008 Mohatt et al., 2014 Sotero, 2006). Historical trauma is described as collective trauma that is inflicted on a group of people based on their identity or affiliation related to ethnicity, religious background, and nationality (Evans-Campbell, 2008). Generally, historical trauma consists of three elements: 1) a traumatic event, 2) the shared experience of the trauma by a group of people, and 3) the multigenerational impact of such trauma (Mohatt et al., 2014). Populations that have historically experienced mass trauma tend to have a higher prevalence of chronic disease several generations later (Sotero, 2006). This research provided rich qualitative evidence of the long-term impact that historical trauma had on the psychological and emotional well-being of the population affected. Elders reported experiencing depression, difficulty showing emotion, shame, over-dependence, isolation, anxiety, sadness, avoidance of culturally significant places, loss of concentration, and constant thinking about historical loss (i.e., language, indigenous land, and so forth) and how alcoholism was affecting the community (Whitbeck, Adams, Hoyt, & Chen, 2004). In a study on Lakota elders, it was found that both individual and family-wide mental health was affected by trauma. Finding that these two groups had endured persistent mass trauma and that their children’s mental health was affected was groundbreaking at that time and built the foundation for historical trauma research today. Starting in the 1960s, knowledge of historical trauma emerged from the stories of those who endured the Holocaust and its impact on subsequent generations, as well as the experiences of Japanese Americans placed in internment camps after World War II (Evans-Campbell, 2008 Sotero, 2006). from massive group trauma” (Brave Heart, Chase, Elkins, & Altschul, 2011, p. Compounding individual trauma is historical trauma, defined as the “cumulative psychological and emotional wounding across generations. Those with individual histories of trauma may be more likely to experience negative behavioral health outcomes, as well as decreases in daily functioning and quality of life. Important to illustrating sources of risk and markers of reduced health/mental health, historical trauma places importance not just on the individual, but in the communities’ experience of a negative event or events (Sotero, 2006). The notion of a shared story over time is deemed historical trauma (Mohatt, Thompson, Thai, & Tebes, 2014). Individual trauma histories are encapsulated within a larger trauma narrative over time, this narrative may accumulate into a multigenerational shared account of events that have harmful effects on functioning and quality of life. Our previous article on trauma-informed care highlighted the fact that social workers often work with individuals who may have complex histories of abuse and violence alongside their biopsychosocialspiritual needs (Kawam & Martinez, 2016). One such context in particular, the historical realm, can provide further depth in appreciating antecedents to social and behavioral problems that have an impact on our communities and clients. To be effective in the work that we do as social workers at all levels, it is important to understand ecological and social context.

Historical and intergenerational trauma