~ Collective Trauma ~
Collective Trauma (CT) refers to groups of people that
have been effected collectively, and through this
collective experience, the traumatic impact can be
transmitted via an intergenerational process just like
Intergenerational Trauma (IT) can. The difference
between the two types of trauma is that with IT, the
traumatic material is passed on through the trauma of a
single individual to his or her offspring, even though the actual traumatic experience is one that also affected groups of people like the Holocaust as opposed to the survival of say, a motor vehicle accident. With CT, the trauma is not the result of what is experienced by the individual, but rather, is a trauma based upon the impact of what has occurred to an entire people, group, race, and/or culture.
Although certainly not the only example, but the most often cited, is that of Holocaust survivors wherein their traumatic experience is handed down, as it were, to their offspring and their offspring's offspring, often to a third generation, even though none of these offspring have actually experienced the actual original trauma.
CT is often cited in refugee populations, wherein entire groups of people are forced to flee from their homes at the hands of bandits or the forced colonization of indigenous persons, a righteously proud people whose land and even beliefs were stripped from them and then were seen as a marginalized group. We see this continuing to occur with aboriginal peoples and others who were native to the land that was rightfully and honestly theirs, and then forcefully rebranded during times of war.
With CT, the traumatic legacy continues as successive generations are taught the natural ways of their people and the historical truths that prevented them from living as philosophically, spiritually, historically, and religiously free on their own territory without being marginalized by the remainder of society. The indigenous Ojibway tribe of Hollow Water Canada is but one example of a collective trauma.
The concept of CT can leave an indelible legacy of significant harm and unmitigated heartache that can alter a person's DNA and rattle the collective unconscious of an entire community and culture.
have been effected collectively, and through this
collective experience, the traumatic impact can be
transmitted via an intergenerational process just like
Intergenerational Trauma (IT) can. The difference
between the two types of trauma is that with IT, the
traumatic material is passed on through the trauma of a
single individual to his or her offspring, even though the actual traumatic experience is one that also affected groups of people like the Holocaust as opposed to the survival of say, a motor vehicle accident. With CT, the trauma is not the result of what is experienced by the individual, but rather, is a trauma based upon the impact of what has occurred to an entire people, group, race, and/or culture.
Although certainly not the only example, but the most often cited, is that of Holocaust survivors wherein their traumatic experience is handed down, as it were, to their offspring and their offspring's offspring, often to a third generation, even though none of these offspring have actually experienced the actual original trauma.
CT is often cited in refugee populations, wherein entire groups of people are forced to flee from their homes at the hands of bandits or the forced colonization of indigenous persons, a righteously proud people whose land and even beliefs were stripped from them and then were seen as a marginalized group. We see this continuing to occur with aboriginal peoples and others who were native to the land that was rightfully and honestly theirs, and then forcefully rebranded during times of war.
With CT, the traumatic legacy continues as successive generations are taught the natural ways of their people and the historical truths that prevented them from living as philosophically, spiritually, historically, and religiously free on their own territory without being marginalized by the remainder of society. The indigenous Ojibway tribe of Hollow Water Canada is but one example of a collective trauma.
The concept of CT can leave an indelible legacy of significant harm and unmitigated heartache that can alter a person's DNA and rattle the collective unconscious of an entire community and culture.