“Our real
blessings often appear to us
in the shape of
pain,
loss and
disappointment.”
Joseph Addison
In
the effort to survive generations of genuine, physical, emotional, cultural and
spiritual abuse resulting in historical trauma, many of us have established
maladaptive psychological and social problems, such as Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder which in turn can lead to depression and substance abuse. Survival of
mind and body in the individual and social sense under conditions of extreme
and abnormal pressures and deprivations has required adaptive responses.
Research has demonstrated that prisoners of war who survived those terrible
experiences have a lowered resistance to new demands in the post-war
environment. Their adaptive capacity was diminished during years of
confinement.
The experience of being sequestered on
reservations and held prisoner at the boarding schools resemble prisoner of war
experiences which were complete with degradation and deprivation. As a result
of unresolved trauma we may lack feelings of trust for ourselves, our own
feelings, other people, and our own decisions. Being depersonalized as social
and cultural beings, having lost a sense of social honor, and communal sense of
belonging, without any appearance of social control has created a sense of
unreality in reference to the self, loss of effective reactions to varying
circumstances and has essentially led to a loss of freedom. The blocking of our
choices is referred to as the “disabled will.” Toxic shame constricts all our
emotions and this phenomenon exists within chronically dysfunctional families
which seriously impair the families’ freedom (Schiraldi, 2000).
To further aggravate the families’
functioning is the blocking of our free will when our minds are impacted by
emotion as a result of unresolved trauma. A part of our brain, the amygdala, is
associated with the older part of the brain and the regulation of emotions. This
part of the brain by-passes reason and is motivated primarily by instincts. We
are able to react without thinking for the sole purpose of survival. Have you
ever driven home from somewhere and you don’t remember how you did so? Your mind was somewhere else. Our amygdala
took over and got us home safely.
Stress is the result of when we react
psychologically and physically to a potential change in our environments. Our
mind reacts with concern, worry, or fear. When our brain tells us something is
dangerous, we enter the fight or flight mode. Our bodies react by secreting
stress chemicals and hormones. This stress response existed as far back as
primitive times as a mechanism to ensure the survival of our species and was
developed for short-term stressors. A danger is perceived and the limbic
system, our older brain, responds. A hormone is released that causes our
adrenal glands to release three additional hormones: epinephrine (adrenaline),
norepinephrine (nonadrenaline); and cortisol. We are ready to fight or flee.
Long-term activation of these chemicals
causes chronic harmful physical and psychological problems such as heart
disease, ulcers, obesity, substance abuse, depression, immune system
suppression, and a whole host of other medical issues. The state of our
physical well-being can definitely make a negative impact on our emotional
well-being. Stress reduction not only improves the quality of our lives, it can
actually save our lives.
Childhood abuse can make a significant
impression on our amygdala. Thus, when something appears to resemble the
original moment of trauma associated with childhood abuse and other abuse, the amygdala
recognizes the similarity and guides our response in a split second. This
occurs before our brains have time to think about what is actually happening or
what the outcomes of our reaction will be. A result of a child who was
subjected to abuse is the development of a sense of abandonment because no one
was there to take care of their needs while the abuse was occurring. Conversely,
resilience represents our ability to cope with stress; but in the face of
stress overload we need to make an active effort to enhance our resilience
(Pick, 2011).
Trauma needs to be fully grieved by
experiencing the emotions appropriate to grief.
When we suppress our emotions they come out sideways or inappropriately.
They can come out in hysterical outbursts of anger, fear or sadness.
Oftentimes, debilitating bouts of depression can occur. Depression is usually
the result of unaddressed anger. Depression can make an impact on our ability
to feel pleasure, our ability to think, and our ability to have healthy
relationships. We may also make choices that are detri-mental to ourselves such
as choosing one abusive partner after another. The repressed energy must be
released before our minds can function efficiently. Repressed emotion leads to
blocked reasoning. In turn, anyone can have an outbreak of uncontrolled anger
or become depressed and we are well aware of how these emotions can affect our
thinking. A sullen mood brought on by depression can dampen any activity that
may have been enjoyable in the past (Allen, 2005).
Research has proven that depression is one
of the most disabling diseases worldwide and is associated with a wide range of
medical and psychiatric illnesses. Depression is one of the side effects of
Historical Trauma. Depression has been anticipated to become the second most
disabling disease following heart disease by 2020. The rate of depression
equated or exceeded broad-spectrum medical conditions such as diabetes, heart
disease, and arthritis concerning the number of days spent in bed, extent of physical
pain, and impairment of everyday functioning.
If we experienced trauma so terrible that it
may seem impossible to overcome, we will experience symptoms which persist and may
overwhelm us. We may or may not realize the extent of damage. We may suffer from
a variety of symptoms soon after the traumatic events occurred or much later. When
we have suffered these forms of trauma we may develop severe and persistent
symptoms such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), deep feelings of shame,
alcoholism, depression, anxiety, rage, nightmares, flashbacks, and feeling out
of touch with reality and we may frequently turn to addictive behaviors to numb
our pain such as substance abuse, and promiscuous sex, all a result of
unresolved trauma.
PTSD may result from stress that has been
piled onto our psyches, especially powerful and disruptive circumstances that
seem to be increasingly common in our violent world. So many of us have been
exposed to overwhelming stressors that seem to be out of our control such as
what happened on September 11, 2001 referred to as 911. This country was
knocked off its feet by that unnecessary tragedy. These overwhelming stressors
may be caused by people; accidents; or by nature. It is our reactions to these
events that cause us so much pain and suffering. These reactions tend to be physically
and psychologically similar as explained earlier concerning our amygdala, which
is an automatic reaction activated by our instincts.
Shock, anxiety, guilt, chronic
irritability, depression and substance abuse are often the result of PTSD along
with insomnia, nightmares, an exaggerated startle response, and a whole host of
additional psychological issues as a result of unresolved trauma. Those
suffering from PTSD are also often plagued with an impairment of concentration,
flashbacks of traumatic experiences, feelings of confusion and despair, low
self-esteem, fear of losing control, and the chronic intrusive fear that the
traumatic event(s) will reoccur. Time is not always the perfect healer. When we
have been subjected to prolonged, repetitive trauma we take on a progressive
form of PTSD which is permeating and corrodes our personality and makes a
negative impact on all aspects of our lives.
Chronic trauma can lead to Complex
PTSD which can lead to irreversible changes in our self-concept if not
addressed fully. Eventually we will feel as if we have no self at all. In a
multitude of circumstances the treatment of historical trauma is predominantly
nonexistent or not addressed adequately. The majority of service providers are
not getting to the root of the problems many Native Americans are facing. Could
Indian people be abusing substances to deaden the pain they are experiencing
because they are burdened with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)? Again
substance abuse is a symptom of PTSD and if PTSD is not addressed adequately,
it will not go away.
Many people suffering from an
anxiety disorder such as PTSD frequently have symptoms of depression. Depression
is a serious condition and is usually characterized by persistent feelings of
despair or worthlessness. Other common signs consist of difficulty
concentrating or sleeping or sleeping too much.
Everyone experiences sad-ness on occasion; however, depression is
different. Depression can influence our feelings about ourselves, others and
life in general. It can take away feelings of well-being and may change the way
we think and behave. The following are signs and symptoms that can help us
develop an understanding of depression:
·
Sad
or irritable mood most of the day and for most days.
·
Loss
of interest in activities that we once found enjoyable.
·
A
sudden change in weight and appetite.
·
Inability
to sleep or sleeping too much.
·
Agitation
or restlessness.
·
Constant
fatigue or loss of energy.
·
Persistent
feelings of worthlessness or guilt.
·
Difficulty
concentrating or making decisions.
·
Frequent
thoughts of death or suicide (Schiraldi, 2000).
A multitude of psychiatrists have
estimated that up to ten percent of population in the United States can be
clinically diagnosed with PTSD which means one in ten people may be plagued
with PTSD. Also more and more people may be exhibiting many of the symptoms of
the disorder. Not all people who
experience trauma require treatment. Some people recover with the help of
supportive individuals. However, many do need professional help to successfully
recover from the psychological injury resulting from exposure to traumatic
event(s). PTSD can occur in children as
well as adults when they experience domestic violence, child abuse, child
neglect, and loss of loved ones. As a result of hundreds of years of
oppression, many Native Americans are probably riddled with PTSD.
PTSD involves the following symptoms:
·
Dysphoria,
which is a state of feeling unwell or unhappy and a feeling of emotional and
mental discomfort such as feelings of restlessness, depression, anxiety and/or
indifference.
·
Experience
alterations in consciousness:
o
Amnesia
concerning traumatic events
o
Dissociative
episodes consisting of a brief or a more severe detachment from reality. The
individual feels as if they are watching themselves from above their bodies.
o
Depersonalization
which involves a deeper detachment from reality than dissociative episodes. It
is an irregularity of self-awareness and a nonspecific feeling that individuals
have lost their identity, their sense of self feels different and unreal.
o
Reliving
traumatic experiences in the form of intrusive ruminative preoccupation.
·
Persistent
thoughts of suicidal ideation.
·
Explosive
or extremely inhibited anger, individuals may alternate between these extreme
behaviors.
·
Promiscuous
or severely inhibited sexuality, individuals may alternate between these
extreme behaviors.
·
Experience
variations in personal self-perceptions.
o
Sense
of helplessness
o
Experience
a lack of ambition.
o
Shame,
guilt and/or self-blame.
o
Sense
of defilement.
o
Experience
feelings of complete difference from others which may include feeling a sense
of specialness and extreme loneliness.
·
Experience
alterations in perception of the perpetrator(s) including:
o
Preoccupation
with relationship with the perpetrator(s) which may include preoccu-pation with
revenge.
o
Unrealistic
attribution of total power to the perpetrator(s). Note: victim’s assessment of power realities
may be realistic.
o
Idealized
perception of relationship.
o
Sense
of special or paranormal relationship.
May believe they are soul mates destined to be together.
o
Acceptance
of belief system or rationalization of perpetrator(s).
·
Variations
in relations with others, including:
o
Isolation
and withdrawal.
o
Disturbance
concerning intimate relation-
ships.
o
Continuous
search for rescuer and individuals may experience feelings of iso-lation and
withdrawal.
o
Unrelenting
distrust.
o
Repeated
failures of self-protection. Putting
self in harm’s way.
·
Alterations
in systems of significant meaning
o
Loss
of sustaining faith and spirituality.
o
Sense
of hopelessness and despair (Schiraldi, 2000).
In addition to the damaging effects of PTSD
and other anxiety disorders, there are other mental health issues that Indian
people continue to face such as anxiety issues, boarding school syndrome,
malignant trauma, shame, and other psychological woes associated with chronic
inter-generational stress. Historic Traumatic Transmission or intergenerational
stress is related to the cumulative emotional and psychological damage which
has existed across generations. Psychological baggage has been passed from
Indian parents to their children, in addition to the trauma and grief they may
be currently experiencing. These after-effects play out in today’s Native
American households.
Studies have been conducted linking the experiences
of Holocaust survivors and men who have gone to war with how these traumatic
experiences have affected their offspring. Unresolved historical trauma will
continue to negatively impact the people of Native American descent until it
has been addressed mentally, culturally, spiritually, emotionally, physically,
and economically.
Damage to any aspect of our self-worth can
lead to shame and similar feelings of embarrassment and humili-ation. Shame is
not a natural state and is a representation of moral conflict strongly
associated to fear. In relationship to shame, feelings that we may experience
are; but are not limited to: incompetence, stupidity, damaged, defective,
exposed, small, weak, out of control, powerlessness, help-lessness, unloved
and/or unlovable. Traumatic events may render us helpless. Feelings of
helplessness are at the core of shame. Trauma wounds the self, our sense of competence,
and the capacity to be in control of our lives. Concerning emotional abuse,
which can be humiliating, is the most direct attack on the self and the most
shaming (Schiraldi, 2000).
The telltale signs of having an
anxiety disorder include feeling anxious and tense even when there is no real
danger. The symptoms cause significant distress and interfere with our daily
activities. We take extreme steps to avoid situations that make us feel
anxious. A common anxiety disorder is Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) which
involves constantly worrying about all kinds of things and expecting the worse.
We may suffer from distress concerning our jobs, performance, relationships,
and possible misfortune even if there may be no real threat of any one of them.
It is normal to be concerned about the above mentioned things when a difficulty
arises. However, if we have GAD, we are in a constant state of worry.
Specific and social phobias are part
of the anxiety disorder family. A specific phobia is represented by a persistent
fear of specific things, such as spiders and elevators. Social phobias involve persistent anxiety
about social or performance situations, such as public speaking and taking a
test, due to fear of embarrassment. We may fear meeting new people, or being
around too many people. For centuries, many Native American people were
subjected to cruel and oppressive treatment which may have led many of us to
develop social anxiety due to a lack of trust of other people.
Another anxiety disorder is Panic
Disorder in which we may feel intense, sudden terror or impending doom. Panic
attacks can happen several times a week or even within the same day. The attacks reach their peak in about ten
minutes, but will result in leaving us feeling emotionally drained or
frightened. These attacks often occur without warning and may consist of
shortness of breath or smothering sensations, heart palpitations, chest pain,
choking sensations, or fear of going crazy.
Since there is no way to predict when an attack will occur oftentimes we
may avoid the place in which an attack has occurred. Some of the abuse that occurred at the
boarding schools was often inflicted on the children without warning. These
unsuspected attacks may have caused some of the victims to experience panic
disorders (Meyers and Dewall, 2015).
Boarding School
Syndrome was a term coined to describe what happened when a governmental system
separated children from their families and communities and prevented them from
speaking their language and adhering to their cultural heritage. Children
removed from their home and subjected to abuse in these institutions often
developed serious personal distress. They experienced a disconnection
physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. This syndrome has been
linked to problems with self-concept, lowered or diminished self-esteem, emotional
numbing associated with an inability to form lasting healthy bonds with others,
somatic disorder, chronic de-pression, anxiety, phobias, insomnia, nightmares,
dissociation, paranoia, sexual dysfunction, heightened irritability, tendency
to fly into rages, alcoholism, drug addiction, and an increased chance of
taking one’s life due to feelings of desperation and hopelessness (Churchhill,
2004).
During an interview Yulanda stated,
“There was a girl who went to the school and knew not a word of English. They
beat her if she would talk in her language.” Jennifer relayed she was beaten
with a rubber hose for wetting the bed, she was six years old. The majority of
the staff at these institutions were proficient in the use of violence and
degradation to wield control over the children. These practices were introduced
during crucial develop-mental periods in the children’s lives.
Some of the unsettling results of living
in unsafe environments may have been the onslaught of malignant trauma for
children and this form of trauma may be resonating with many adult Native
American people today. Malignant trauma can occur as the result of the
non-responsive behaviors by those who were obligated to care for the children’s
needs. The children’s needs and their cries for help were ignored or met with
punishment. The victims experienced a sense of helplessness and hopelessness,
which existed over long periods of time.
Children
are programmed to test the waters by crying out during the night as young
infants and children, and if their cries are responded to, they develop a sense
that they carry a certain level of importance. Having their needs met can lead
to the development of trust.
Malignant trauma may result in four
losses: (a) helplessness associated with
the loss of the expectation of help; (b)
loss in the belief that the other is obligated to respond to a cry for
help and reassurance; (c) the loss of
the obligated other’s relatively continuous, constant, and appropriate
recognition and response to cries and needs, which is tied to a loss of trust;
and (d) the loss of one’s commitment to
recognize, respect, and respond to his or her desires and needs (LaMothe, 1999).
The chances of overcoming these losses are
mini-mal to nonexistent. Consider the children who were forced to stay at the boarding
schools, lying in bed at night, feeling lonely and fearful. They required
reassurance that they were going to be all right and needed nurturance from a
caring adult caregiver. They would lie on their beds crying, and nobody came to
their aid. They realized at a very young age the only people they could count
on were themselves. Psychological unavailability may be the most subtle yet
most severe form of maltreatment. These children became more and more silent
as they lived their lives in quiet stillness, swallowed up by darkness.
The mental health of children is
contingent on the child experiencing a consistent relationship with a nurturing
caregiver. Along with a feeling of security, attachment provides us with physical
protection. We need to feel physically safe in order to feel emotionally
secure. Trauma can undermine our
feelings of safety as well as feeling emotionally secure. Think about a time
when we were injured, distressed or in pain, we usually tried to seek a safe
place in which our needs could be met. Learning to do so was crucial to our
survival. Without a secure base we would not feel comfortable to explore and
learn about our world. Having a safe place is a necessary element for
establishing our independence.
Trauma disrupts the secure base and
basic trust development and disrupts our physiological regulation which in turn
can throw us completely off balance because a traumatic experience can generate
hyper-arousal consisting of fear, panic and pain and then if we are abandoned
or neglected after being injured we can develop attachment trauma. Attachment
trauma creates extreme distress. It also undermines the development of our
capacity to regulate that distress. Fortunately, if we are able to form a
secure attachment relationship later in life, we may be able to more readily
regulate our emotions and overcome the damage done by the disruption in forming
healthy attachments during our childhood (Allen, 2005).
Remaining in a constant state of
fear deters us from moving past the moral dilemmas we may be facing. Circumstances
such as when we feel as if we have behaved immorally or are deficient as a
human being can lead to feelings of shame, which sets the stage for fear. Fear
is one of our true opponents. Because of
fear, doubt rears its ugly head which may lead to anxiety and dread. We may
make rash decisions and dismiss any signs of hope and trust. Facing fears can
be scary, to say the least, and most people would rather avoid those unpleasant
feelings.
During an interview with Kent, he reported
he was locked in the basement at the Holy Childhood Boarding School in Harbor
Springs, Michigan when he got into a scuffle over a chair with another child.
It was Saturday evening and the children were about to watch a movie. A child,
who was favored by one of the nuns, wanted a specific chair, and Kent wanted to
sit on the same chair. Ultimately, the favored child got his wishes met, and
Kent was sent to sit on the basement stairs alone in the dark while the other
children watched the movie. This event had a twofold outcome, not only
associated with his fears, but also contributing to his sense of worth. Because
he was not the favored one, he may have considered himself worth less than the
other child. Additionally, he stated he has a fear of the dark and attributes
this fear to the basement incident and being forced to sit in the dark alone.
Intense reactions, especially to any
reminders of traumatic events have proven to be one of the trademarks of the
emotional legacy of trauma. Sometimes the opposite is true for traumatized
individuals. Traumatized people may refer to their feelings of emotions as numb
or dulled. They complain of not being able to feel love or anger. There may be
a struggle between too much emotion and not enough emotion. They may feel
intense emotions such as panic, terror and rage and then vacillate to feelings
of numbness, emptiness, and feeling emotionally dead.
We can develop false identities when we change
ourselves into what we think others want or have forced us to be. We define ourselves
by the roles and positions in our lives. The children who were placed in these
schools were forced to live under the care of strangers, some very cold and
cruel. The role and purpose of many Indian people was determined by the
Euro-Americans. How we have chosen to
adjust to the losses affects the redefinition of our lives.
All mood altering chemicals, such as
alcohol, marijuana, heroin, and cocaine, have similar effects: to change the
mood and feelings of the person who uses the chemical. Chemical dependence
refers to the harmful de-pendence on any mood altering drug. Using alcohol to
alter their feelings and mood helped the Native American people to escape the
harsh reality of their situation. The use of alcohol was introduced during the
fur-trading era and along with this usage came the dysfunctional drinking
patterns. Since the Indian people’s social immune system at the individual and group
level was already compromised, drinking became an escape from the hardships
instilled by the Europeans which led them directly to addiction problems.
They sought to hide from the oppression
and from their own agonized selves. Indian people began to drink excessively
because they wanted to feel something other than pain and despair. Their
grandchildren and great grandchildren drink for the same reasons. They are men-tally
disassociating themselves from the cumulative painful memories; to feel
something else as a way of escaping mental anguish; to belong to a group even
if it is a group of alcoholics; and it is a plea to live on one’s own terms.
Ironically, excessive drinking has served as a cover up of the erosion of
social control and social power and the loss of an individual’s place in society
by regaining self-control by doing what they want to do with their own bodies,
minds, and memories, they are making a choice.
Every person responds to trauma in
his or her life in a different manner and there is no set time for recovery.
The factors that seem to determine how long it takes to get over the effects of
trauma are:
·
Personality
type.
·
The
environment in which we grew up in such as was it hectic and chaotic or was it
calm and peaceful.
·
Current
living situation.
·
General
overall health.
·
Substance
abuse and other addictions.
·
The
length of time concerning exposure to the trauma.
·
The
number of traumas we have experienced, even minor traumas.
·
The
severity of the trauma(s) (Allen, 2005).
Chronically traumatized people become
adept at existing in altered levels of consciousness. Through the extended
practice of disassociation, voluntary thought suppression, minimization, and
oftentimes acts of denial, our personal reality is altered to avoid perceived
and/or real harm. When Viktor Frankl was held captive in a con-centration camp
while facing what could have been considered unbearable circumstances, he
envisioned wonderful memories of his wife and pictured himself in her company.
He thus altered his reality. Frankl blocked as much as possible the harshness
of his situation and that is how he maintained his sanity.
Frankl was a Holocaust survivor. He managed
to turn his life around and became a well known psychologist who wrote a
best-selling book entitled “Man’s Search for Meaning.” It’s understandable why
practicing constriction and avoidance would serve as useful tools for those
suffering from chronic trauma. While this constriction is adaptive in nature,
it can also lead to a kind of atrophy concerning psychological abilities that
have been sup-pressed which may result in an overdeveloped isolated inner
self.
Voluntarily restricting and
suppressing our thoughts can apply to thoughts about our future also. Trauma
victims often look at the future with a sense of doom. A future filled with
despair, not hope. Thinking of the future may instill feelings of desperation
and confusion due to our often unpredictable current and past situations. These
feelings can seem unbearable and may cause us to feel vulnerable and we are
limited to the amount of disappointment we can endure. In turn, we limit our
attention to a minimal amount of goals. Futures are not considered in years
or even months, our futures may be limited to days, possibly weeks.
When we suffer from PTSD as a result of
chronic and possibly acute episodes of traumatic events we may have exaggerated
features of avoidance and constriction. If we were reduced to a goal of mere
survival, psychological constriction becomes an essential element of adjustment
to an abusive situation in which victims are held captive. Some of the children in the boarding
schools refused to cry when they were being beaten. Many of the children became
hardened to the harsh treatment they were subjected to at these institutions. They
refused to be broken down by their abusers. The children who didn’t develop
this toughened way of dealing with the hardships of these schools often
perished.
I feel it’s imperative to mention again
that constriction or numbing may lead to a kind of psychological atrophy which
enhances the development of a solitary inner life. Most of the people who were
interviewed for this book and my first book reported being extremely lonely at
certain points in their lives. They were either held captive at boarding schools
or had a parent or grandparent who attended these institutions. When victims
have been reduced to a goal of surviving, constriction and avoidance becomes
their main defenses. Holding back or restricting feelings, sensations, thoughts
and memories is a way of providing protection against any perceived or real
sources of harm. Constriction applies to all aspects of our lives from
relationships and employment to a whole host of everyday situations (Schiraldi,
2000).
Alterations concerning the elements of
time can lead to annihilation of the future and eventually will eradicate
memories of the past. You can see what this can do to a person’s understanding
of who they are and why they suffer from a false sense of identity. The children
who were forced to attend the Indian boarding schools were not permitted to
speak their native language, engage in the spiritual practices of their
families of origin, wear traditional clothing and their hair was cut
short. Long hair often worn in braids
carried specific spiritual meaning for traditional Indian people. As a result,
these children predominantly lost their identity as an Indian person and feelings
of shame were instilled by the judgmental caretakers at the boarding schools
concerning the traditional practices of their families.
When we cannot feel, want, perceive, think
or imagine what we are actually feeling, wanting, perceiving, and thinking, we
are split. In dysfunctional families plagued with historical trauma and trauma
in their current lifetimes, these individuals were often told they shouldn’t
feel certain emotions such as anger. If we are not permitted to acknowledge our
anger and not permitted to experience it, our anger is split off and numbed by
ego defenses. With our anger being completely denied, it is lost to conscious-ness.
The same is true about our other feelings, thoughts, and visions. Once we can’t
feel, our ego defenses take over and we become numb.
When we are dealing with unresolved
trauma, we are often afraid of our anger and often repress our angry feelings.
We may feel shame for feeling angry and feel controlled by other people’s
anger. We may feel if we express our anger people may leave us. We may cry a
lot, get depressed, overeat, get sick, do mean and nasty things to get even,
act hostile, or have violent temper outbursts. Anger is a natural feeling that
usually has a basis for existing. As a result of dealing with our anger and the
anger expressed by others in an unhealthy manner we may become withdrawn and
isolate ourselves.
To some degree, isolation and avoidance
has worked for many of us, especially if we have been traumatized, chronically
and/or acutely. When the level of stress in our life rises or a crisis occurs,
isolation is no longer an effective strategy. While seeking isolation as a
safety measure, we can also feel vulnerable at the same time. When we have
given up a secure attachment due to isolation we can feel like we are battling
life alone. Isolation can lead to depression. Many children who attended the
boarding schools suffered from isolation when they were being abused sexually,
psychologically and spiritually.
People held in captivity due to oppressive
circumstances become very skilled at altering their consciousness. When
altering perceptions of unbearable circumstances, they experience periods of
dissociation, commit voluntary thought restraint, minimize and/or execute
absolute denial about their horrible living conditions. The ability to alter
our perceptions is a handy skill to possess when faced with traumatic
situations. Extremely intense emotional
arousal can interfere with the process of encoding traumatic memories (Allen,
2005).
A wide variety of factors can impair our
memory of traumatic events:
·
The
factor that makes the most impact is time.
·
There
are substantial individual differences in extent of early memory retrieval.
·
Early
memories are influenced by our social context. We learn to talk about and make
sense of our experiences or fail to do so in our close relationships because of
restrictions placed on us.
·
Some
of us have coped with trauma by escaping into isolation and loneliness and
retreating into fantasy. Sometimes the fan-tasy world appears to be more real.
·
Dissociation
is another coping mechanism that can interfere with memory retrieval such as
feeling spacey, far away, or in a dreamlike state.
·
Neurobiological
processes associated with trauma may interfere with every stage of memory:
encoding, consolidation, storage, and retrieval. Extreme levels of arousal can
hinder all memory processes. Head trauma and substance abuse can contribute to
memory impairment and negatively impact our neurobiological functioning.
·
Repression
of traumatic memories can play a role in not remembering traumatic events. Repression is automatic and involves our
non-conscious state.
·
Many
of us have kept from remembering traumatic events by using distractions such as
being very busy.
·
Forcing
ourselves to recall traumatic memories can impede retrieval of such memories.
However, many traumatized people who remember traumatic events long afterwards
are able to corroborate their memories (Allen, 2005).
Unresolved trauma can cause a host of
other problems such as annihilating the ordinary safe feeling of pursuing
initiatives because of a low tolerance for trial and error. To a chronically
traumatized person, any action has the potential of leading to serious
consequences. There is no room for mistakes because of the expectation of
possible punishment. The continuity existing between the past and present can
persist after the person is released from captivity and is in a safe place. The
experience of the present is often hazy and dulled, while the memories of the
past are often intense and lucid. Along with the alteration in a sense of time
comes a constriction of ambition and planning for the future. People plagued with
PTSD face the future with fear and trepidation.
After the perpetrator is removed from the
victim’s life; however, the victim often feels as if the abuser is still
present and will become obsessed with the perpetrator, monopolizing the
victim’s life and continues to engross her or his attention after being
released from captivity. In the book
“Unbroken” the author depicted this phenomenon quite well when describing the
aftermath of a prisoner of war experience. The main character in the story,
after a few years of liberation focused a lot of his attention on the most
abusive guard at the concentration camp in which he was held captive. He became
obsessed concerning this abusive guard.
This phenomenon occurs because the
worse fear of people who have been chronically traumatized is the reoccurrence
of traumatic events. The reintroduction of traumatic events continues to
intensify the hyper-arousal symptoms of PTSD and other mental health issues
such as anxiety disorders. Chronically traumatized individuals continuously
experience feelings of anxiety and encounter persistent feelings of doom. Any
sign of potential danger results in increased agitation, pacing, possible
crying and screaming. Individuals often remain vigilant and cannot relax or
fall into a deep restful sleep. Chronically traumatized people have no baseline
feelings of comfort and safety to fall back on (Herman, 1992).
The intrusive symptoms of PTSD and
other mental health challenges often persist long after individuals are
liberated from their prolonged confinement. For example, soldiers still
encounter flashbacks, nightmares, and extreme reactions to reminders of their
war experiences long after they have been released from combat. I knew of a
person who would jump under a table when he heard a car backfire. He served in
the Vietnam War.
Problems associated with combat
experience have manifested in antisocial behaviors, Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder, substance abuse, and an inability to sustain close personal
relationships with friends, spouses, or family. Divorce and suicide rates
associated with Vietnam veterans are above average in comparison to the same
age group of nonveterans. During the Vietnam War, two percent of the troops who
served in Vietnam were Native Americans.
At that time, Native Americans encompassed less than one percent of the
entire U.S. population. The number of Native American veterans in combat
doubled the number of the general population. Enlistment rates for tribal
members who have resided on the reservations have proven to be twice the
national average, and these recruits have often served on the front lines. Many of these men are still plagued with the
trauma of going to war along with historical trauma.
The children who
attended the Holy Childhood boarding school were either exposed to their peers
being hauled away during the night to satisfy the lustful whims of the
caregivers and/or they were sexually abused themselves. Sexually abused
children rarely received healthy nurturing support and without this
reinforcement, they develop the mindset that they cannot experience the full
depth of their anger, rage, sadness, shame, pain, and fear. They believe the
anguish of these feelings would be unbearable. These children believe they
could not hold their heads up and participate with their peers in school or on
the playground if they fully acknowledged their pain and grief. The outcome of
“stuffing their feelings” is the inability to trust their own feelings. The
caregivers in the lives of these children were often out of control and often
violent.
A
vast amount of survivors of sexual abuse were too busy surviving to pay
attention to the ways in which they were harmed. The long-term effects of
sexual abuse can be so elusive that it is hard to identify how the abuse
affected those who were harmed. Sexual abuse can permeate all areas of our lives:
sense of self; intimate relationships; sexuality; parenting; employment; and our
sanity. If a person is treated like an inanimate object, one’s sense of self is
seriously threatened. A lack of trust can negatively affect any relationship
and can certainly impede the establishment of intimacy. The stuffing of
feelings such as rage, anger, sadness and a lack of trust of one’s own feelings
can certainly obstruct the development of proper parenting and employment
skills and confidence is vital for both roles (Sandford, 1988).
The abuses inflicted on the Indian people
for centuries have resulted in long-lasting negative effects for many Native
American people. A multitude of Native American people have been sexually,
emotionally and physically abused during their childhoods and also during their
adulthood years. As a result of unresolved trauma, we may have developed
maladaptive ways of handling stress. We may also be plagued with varying
degrees of PTSD, ingrained shame issues, anxiety issues, Boarding School
Syndrome, and Malignant Trauma. Our tribal history is filled with acts of
depersonalization as social and cultural beings and filled with vast voids due
to our loss of independence, loss of our sense of social honor, and communal
sense of belonging, without any appearance of social control. Our problem with
identity confusion has caused a barrier to obtaining a sense of our true
selves. For hundreds of years we were forced to endure indisputable physical,
sexual, emotional, cultural, and spiritual abuse and we have not come out of
this unscathed.
