People sometimes wonder exactly what historical trauma is–Here are two scales created by holding focus groups, facilitated by Native people on a reservation–The first scale is a measure of what happened and the second is a measure of how people react to what happened
Historical Trauma
Historical losses scale:
- Loss of land
- Loss of language
- Loss of our traditional spiritual ways
- Loss of our family ties because of boarding schools
- Loss of our families from government relocation
- Loss of self-respect from poor treatment by government officials
- Loss of trust in whites from broken treaties
- Loss of our culture
- Losses from effects of alcoholism on our people
- Loss of respect by our children and grandchildren for elders
- Loss of our people through early death
- Loss of respect by our children for traditional ways
Historical losses associated with symptoms scale:
- Often feel sadness or depression
- Often feel anger
- Often feel anxiety or nervousness
- Uncomfortable around white people when you think of these losses
- Shame when you think of these losses
- Loss of concentration
- Feel isolated or distant from other people when you think of these losses
- Loss of sleep
- Rage
- Fear or distrust of intentions of white people
- Feel like it’s happening again
- Feel like avoiding places or people that remind you of these losses
Each scale is rated from 0 to 5
From:Whitbeck,Adams, Hoyt, Chen
Conceptionalizing and Measuring Historical Trauma Among American Indian People
American Journal of Community Psychology Vol. 33 No. ¾ June 2004 p. 119-130
