Trauma begets trauma

Trauma begets trauma. Unless we do something to interrupt it.

This is true for physical abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence as well as systematic racism and oppression. The events of the past week in response to the murder of George Floyd is the result of a country that has been chronically and deeply traumatized.  This trauma has intensified in the past four years with a white-supremacist, sexual predator as president.  The heat has been turned up even more this past year with the impact of Covid 19 and shelter-in-place orders.  In the face of these traumas, there has been a lack of response and poor leadership.  We were a stack of dynamite and Floyd’s death lit the fuse.  

My purpose in writing this is to shed some light on how we can address each of our individual trauma responses as well as our collectively felt trauma. People are already working on the healing that needs to happen but there is more we can do without forgetting or invalidating the outrage.

Our country has a violent past.  Massacre and genocide, first of the Indigenous people and then of Africans brought here as slaves.  White people have done everything possible through laws and policies to cause financial, physical and psychological terror to Black, Indigenous People of Color.

I am not going to list all of the atrocities but to jog your memory:

·      Forced removal of Indigenous people from their lands.

·      Forced removal of Indigenous children from their parents stripping them of their language and cultural roots.

·      Slavery

·      Manifest Destiny

·      Selling of slave children from their parents for profit and to psychologically terrorize and control slaves.

·      Involuntary sterilization of women of color and disabled women (https://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book-excerpts/health-article/forced-sterilization/)

·      Japanese internment

·      Chinese Exclusion Act

·      Tulsa Race Massacre

·      Redlining

·      Separation of asylum seeking children from their parents.

·      Industrial Prison Complex and the continued disenfranchisement and forced separation of people of color from their families and support systems through unjust courts and legal proceeding.

·      Police Brutality

What can we do to heal?

Awareness, awareness, awareness.

Educate yourself on how you are impacted by this collective trauma.

If you are white, spend every day thinking about how you can fight against the racist system that benefits you. (#meandwhitesupremacy, #howtobeanantiracist, #somethinghappenedinourtown, https://robindiangelo.com/publications/

  https://www.kqed.org/arts/13881199/5-ways-to-show-up-for-racial-justice-today)

If you are BIPOC, (And I write this from my experience as a trauma therapist and not as a BIPOC--with great humility I ask that BIPOC please add comments about what might be effective in their experience since I am not BIPOC)

Practice self-care in whatever way that looks like to you, be with people and community that support you. Recognize the signs and symptoms of overwhelm and seek help that feels effective and nourishing to you. Practice and participate in rituals and spirituality that feed you. Don’t take care of white people and their fragility.

For all of us,

Gather, nourish, help and process

Gather together with people who are supportive and you can talk with about your experience. Undo the aloneness and isolation that trauma creates.

Nourish your body and your soul. Do whatever it is that helps your brain feel less activated. Maybe that is being alone and writing, maybe that is being with loved ones. Spend some time laying on the earth. Belly breath. Plant something.

Help your community heal. Maybe that is getting organized and doing community outreach or volunteering. Trauma is made worse by succumbing to the freeze response so try to do even small things that feel positive and nourishing. Feeling strong and empowered is helpful to giving your brain the signals that you are not helpless and that leads to feeling more safety.

Process your experience with your mentors, friends, mental health professionals, clergy members and community leaders. Write, read and seek guidance. Telling your story and being witnessed is healing.