Psychological Consequences of Historical Trauma

“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.