Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing by Joy DeGruy

Author:Joy DeGruy
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: black studies, effects of slavery, diversity training, African American culture, black culture, post traumatic slave syndrome
Publisher: Joy DeGruy Publications
Published: 2016-03-08T05:00:00+00:00

Trauma’s Effects

What are the impacts of generations of slavery and oppression on a people? In order to begin to understand the magnitude of this legacy on contemporary African Americans, it is important to examine the diagnostic characteristics of trauma. What are the effects of trauma on human beings? What does trauma look like? How does the trauma manifest itself ?

If I shoot someone, say an attendee at one of my lectures, most would agree that the victim of the shooting would be severely traumatized. A gentleman seated a few rows away from the victim might be somewhat less traumatized. Someone walking in the hall that heard the shot could possibly be traumatized. Some family members of the victim informed about the shooting may be intensely traumatized, while others very little. There might even be a woman seated next to the victim who may not experience any symptoms of trauma whatsoever. This is because human beings react to events differently.

With the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11th 2001, many Americans, once again, became familiar with the term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. Lots of citizens were reported to be suffering from the disorder as a result of witnessing the destruction of those buildings and the deaths of those trapped inside. At the same time, while most individuals who repeatedly witnessed the news coverage of the towers toppling did not seem to suffer any enduring mental or emotional damage, some did. People do indeed respond to trauma differently.

With what is known about trauma, is it probable that significant numbers of African slaves experienced a sufficient amount of trauma to warrant a diagnosis of PTSD? Since there are no living African American slaves today I will have to hypothesize using current diagnostic criteria.

The Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV, Revised, describes features of disorders, reports the conditions which may give rise to them and lists each disorder’s symptoms. These all help clinicians with making accurate diagnoses. However, it is not necessary for an individual to show evidence of all of the listed symptoms to warrant being diagnosed with a specific illness.

The following are a list of some of the conditions which give rise to mental and/or emotional traumas that justify the diagnosis of PTSD:

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