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Abstract: American Indians experienced massive losses of lives, land, and culture from European contact and colonization resulting in a long legacy of chronic trauma and unresolved grief across generations. This phenomenon, labeled historical unresolved grief, contributes to the current social pathology of high rates of suicide, homicide, domestic violence, child abuse, alcoholism and other social problems among American Indians. The present paper describes the concept of historical unresolved grief and historical trauma among American Indians, outlining the historical as well as present social and political forces which exacerbate it. The abundant literature on Jewish Holocaust survivors and their children is used to delineate the intergenerational transmission of trauma, grief, and the survivor's child complex. Interventions based on traditional American Indian ceremonies and modem western treatment modalities for grieving and healing of those losses are described.
American Indians and Alaska Natives are plagued by high rates of suicide, homicide, accidental deaths, domestic violence, child abuse, and alcoholism, as well as other social problems (Bachman, 1992; Berlin, 1986; Indian Health Service, 1995; May, 1987). Racism and oppression, including internalized oppression (Freire, 1968), are continuous forces which exacerbate these destructive behaviors. We suggest these social ills are primarily the product of a legacy of chronic trauma and unresolved grief across generations. It is proposed that this phenomenon, which we label historical unresolved grief, contributes to the current social pathology, originating from the loss of lives, land, and vital aspects of Native culture promulgated by the European conquest of the Americas.
In this paper we outline the concepts of historical unresolved grief and historical trauma among American Indians. We each have over 20 years of experience providing mental health treatment, training, and prevention services to reservation and urban Lakota and Pueblo Indians as well as other tribes across the country and in Canada. One of us is a Lakota clinical social worker and the other is a French Canadian medical anthropologist. We came to these concerns separately, starting in the 1970s. We have collaborated for many years, however, and developed these terms in 1988 to explain the impact of one generation's trauma on subsequent generations. We offer evidence to suggest that major social problems challenging American Indians today can be better understood and resolved by incorporating the...