When we are looking at an event or period that is not isolated (such as The Hunger Winter) but repetitive and pervasive throughout the historical experience of a given group or cultural subset of groups (African-Americans; Ashkenazi Jews) we are looking at a sensitivity that develops from repeated traumas that are similar but not identical. They are triggering the flight-or-fight mechanism, or whatever vulnerable the sensitivity to certain stimuli has created. The fact that the repeated trauma—the re-opening of the initial wound—occurs in a context in which the child desperately needs to maintain an attachment to the abusive parent, also means that the child must not know what he or she knows. This creates a sense of unreality and self-doubt, as this process of ‘gaslighting’ occurs.
Families that carry historical trauma include families whose history might include:
• slavery
• refugee/asylum seeker status
• immigration crises/deportees
• Holocaust survivors
• pogroms
• civil wars/occupation
• political violence
• famine
• religious/ethnic/racial persecution
These families often have a unique constellation of issues that overlap with, but are distinct from, families with non-historical intergenerational trauma. [an example of non-historical intergenerational trauma might include factors such as domestic violence, incest, sexual abuse, substance abuse or addiction, primary caregivers with mental illness, incarceration, or time spent in the foster system]. There is not a unifying narrative to which one owes allegiance. The root is different and the sense of identification is different. This form of trauma creates a vulnerability to certain mental health issues—but also creates resilience. The story of survival, whether overtly or covertly a part of the family narrative, becomes a part of the identity of the next generation and sets that individual apart. How is this different in a place like the US, where there is less national homogeneity than in many other countries? A shared national trauma—such as a civil war or occupation—is something that is known and understood by other members of the nation.
There are three ways that trauma is replicated and passed down the generations:
• Genetic Transmission
• Cultural Transmission
• Behavioral Transmission
Historical trauma utilizes all three pathways.
Disorganized attachment, in which the reassuring parent is also the parent who creates fear. The relational needs are activated by fear so that the fear-inducing parent becomes the parent that is called upon to soothe the infant/toddler/child from the fear-producing parent. This causes clinging and irrational relational patterns throughout life. High reactivity is common. Second-order representations (the “self” as mirrored back to us by the reaction/response of the primary attachment figure) are the things that provide us with our internalized sense of self. Failures in this realm constitute an overwhelming majority of caregiver interactions. The “self” is mirrored back in the caregiver’s experience rather than in the infant’s experience. This produces an unstable identity. A sufficient number of accurately reflected interactions establishes an image of the internalized self that can be accessed on an as-needed basis when events and experiences are encountered that call upon the infant’s “response identikit.”
