Historic Trauma and Aboriginal Healing
by Cynthia C. Wesley-Esquimaux, Ph.D. and Magdalena Smolewski, Ph.D.
by Cynthia C. Wesley-Esquimaux, Ph.D. and Magdalena Smolewski, Ph.D.
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Chapter 3<br />
state, according to recent reports from the Minnesota Department of Human Services.<br />
In addition, American Indians have the lowest life expectancy <strong>and</strong> die earlier than other<br />
ethnic groups (The Circle, 2001:3).<br />
The relationship between loss of control <strong>and</strong> the onset of poor health has also been well-documented in<br />
psychology literature. In the Schmale <strong>and</strong> Iker (1966) studies, it was found that people who are high in<br />
feelings of helplessness <strong>and</strong> hopelessness are more likely to develop cancer. Uncontrollable events are<br />
consistently more strongly associated than controllable events with depressive outcomes (clinical<br />
depression, depressive symptoms, suicide attempts).<br />
Physiological research also shows that both the endocrine <strong>and</strong> immune systems are responsive to the<br />
uncontrollability of the stressful event (Sachar, 1975), in that the levels of corticosteroids become elevated,<br />
leading to a reduction in immune functioning (Gabrielsen <strong>and</strong> Good, 1967). Since a loss of control<br />
leads to elevated corticosteroid levels, it may weaken the immune system <strong>and</strong>, thereby, affecting the<br />
development of problem conditions. Consistent with these findings, feelings of helplessness <strong>and</strong> an<br />
inability to control one’s environment are associated with the onset of immune-related diseases, such as<br />
some cancers (Schmale <strong>and</strong> Iker, 1966; Skalar <strong>and</strong> Anisman, 1981).<br />
Helplessness also lowers levels of a brain neuro-transmitter, norepinephrine, which leads to an emotional<br />
depression that reduces the probability of successful coping, leading to failure <strong>and</strong> further depletion of<br />
norepinephrine, <strong>and</strong> so on, in a vicious circle. The very process is also indicated in nicotine dependence.<br />
Since smoking increases levels of norepinephrine, the habit can be seen as a coping (albeit clearly<br />
maladaptive) response under anxiety-provoking or stressful conditions (Pomerlau <strong>and</strong> Pomerlau, 1984).<br />
For people with no adaptive coping methods, smoking becomes the only available coping strategy that,<br />
paradoxically, helps them to deal with over-powering stress.<br />
Dohrenwend (1978) identified the additive burden hypothesis that explains higher prevalence of<br />
maladaptive behaviours in socially disadvantaged people, in terms of the independent <strong>and</strong> additive<br />
influences of stressful events, personal dispositions <strong>and</strong> available support. From this perspective,<br />
maladaptive social behaviours are seen as a result from a cumulative process (such as an historic trauma),<br />
in which people with limited personal resources to deal with adverse <strong>and</strong> stressful conditions exist in a<br />
very dem<strong>and</strong>ing environment <strong>and</strong> are confronted with a series of stressful events that exacerbate the<br />
intensity of these dem<strong>and</strong>s. The occurrence of stressful events on a frequent, if not daily, basis has been<br />
shown to relate to a sense of limited control over one’s environment (i.e., external locus of control; Eron<br />
<strong>and</strong> Peterson, 1982), a fatalistic view of the future (Ross, Mirowsky <strong>and</strong> Cockerham, 1983), <strong>and</strong> a state<br />
comparable to learned helplessness (Strauss, 1979).<br />
People confronted with such pressures are also ineffective in acquiring <strong>and</strong> utilizing available sources of<br />
social support in times of difficulty (Caplan <strong>and</strong> Killilea, 1976). Arsenian <strong>and</strong> Arsenian (1948) also<br />
propose that a culture, in which a disadvantaged group is located, greatly influences the development of<br />
maladaptive social behaviours. A “tough” culture (such as a dominant non-<strong>Aboriginal</strong> culture in the<br />
<strong>Aboriginal</strong> context) would have few mechanisms available for tension reduction <strong>and</strong> would limit the<br />
effectiveness, efficiency <strong>and</strong> acceptability of those that are available. Within such a culture, disadvantaged<br />
people would exert considerable effort for minimal gain, find many paths to goal attainment inaccessible<br />
<strong>and</strong> experience considerable frustration. Moreover, a tough culture would also limit the range of goals<br />
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