Racism and the Impact on Mental Health
Someone with racial trauma may:
A. Constantly think about and re-experience distressing events B. Have anxiety and hypervigilance C. Suffer from chronic stress D. All of the Above
What is D? All of the Above
True or False. Trauma in early childhood can cause changes in a person's DNA gene expression that can then be passed on to the person's children.
True. Studies have found altered gene expression following a significant trauma that then showed up in the next generation of children. Studies involving mice indicate that the changes in genes can be passed on for 5 to 6 generations.
The use of power (by a system /institution/ group/individual) to dominate over another OR the refusal of a system/institution/group/individual who possesses this power to challenge that domination.
What is Oppression?
Many studies have cited structural racism within medical care as a key factor in poor physical health. For example, a 2016 study into racial bias and pain management found a link between undertreating pain in Black patients and false biological beliefs, such as, “Black people’s skin is thicker than white people’s skin.” TRUE or FALSE?
TRUE
Someone with racial trauma may: A. Experience physical symptoms like headaches or stomachaches B. Have difficulties with memory C. Struggle with sleep or insomnia D. Avoid people and be less willing to take risks F. All of the Above
What is F? All of the Above.
This type of multigenerational trauma experienced by a specific cultural, racial or ethnic group. It is related to major events that oppressed a particular group of people because of their status as oppressed, such as slavery, the Holocaust, forced migration, and the violent colonization of Native Americans.
What is Historical Trauma?
A type of racism that has three components: history, culture, and institutions/policy. Historical racism provides the framework for current racism. Any structure built on a foundation (history) of racism will be a racist structure. Culture, which is ever-present in our day to day lives is what allows racism to be accepted, normalized, and perpetuated. Institutions and policies make up the fundamental relationships and rules across society, which reinforces racism and give it societal legitimacy (which makes it so hard to dismantle).
What is Systemic/Structural Racism?
Racism is associated with higher rates of stress, increasing a person of color’s risk of developing high blood pressure. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)Trusted Source report that Black people are more likely to have hypertension than any other racial or ethnic group. TRUE or FALSE?
TRUE
When someone experiences racism, it may cause them to feel:
A. Sadness, depression, suicidal thoughts; B. Anxiety and vigilance, on guard for the next discriminatory experience ; C. Lack of energy for planning, thinking, and coping ; D. All of the Above
What is D? All of the Above.
True or False. If a person has never personally experienced a trauma, they cannot be psychologically affected by another person's experiences.
False. Discrimination and Racism are traumatic experiences that can cause similar symptoms to PTSD, as well as depression and anxiety.
Exposure to discrimination, either directly or indirectly, can trigger racial trauma. Indirectly can include witnessing discrimination against a member of a particular group in person or in the media.
When racism and white supremacy affect the minds of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) to the point where they begin to believe that they are inferior because of their own race. This can sometimes lead to “inter-racial hostility” in which BIPOC treat other BIPOC in a way that mirrors how white racists might treat them. Another way internalized racism can manifest is by BIPOC accepting and internalizing Eurocentric ideals and values.
What is Internalized Racism?
Racism is already linked to poorer birth outcomes, such as infant mortality, for BIPOC. Studies suggest that mothers who report experiences of racism are more likely to have babies with a low birth weight, which can cause further health problems for the infants later in life. TRUE or FALSE?
TRUE
In a 2015 study of rates of children and adolescent suicidal ideation, attempted suicides, and suicidal attempts that resulted in an injury requiring medical attention, this ethnic group had consistently the highest rates in each category.
What is Hispanic/ Latino youth?
The experience of generations of slavery, segregation, and institutionalized racism that has contributed to physical, psychological, and spiritual trauma wounding over the lifespan and across generations, emanating from massive group trauma experience.
What is how Black Americans have been affected by Historical Trauma?
This term is in quotes to emphasize that it’s a made-up term that shouldn’t carry any actual value. It was a term created by and for white people who want to perpetuate racism by denying their privilege in all its forms and by claiming that fighting to improve the lives of BIPOC is somehow “racist” against white people. MHA considers this term invalid because racism in any form depends on the presence of a power differential. White people have historically always fallen on the powerful side rather than the powerless side. Reverse racism is therefore impossible, as long as we live in a society that perpetuates white supremacy.
What is “Reverse Racism” ?
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) are so concerned about how racism affects the well-being of young people that they released a 2019 policy statement on it. The statement says that failure to address racism in the United States “will continue to undermine health equity of all children, adolescents, emerging adults, and their families.” TREU or FALSE?
TRUE
The source of this quote: “Racism is a socially transmitted disease passed down through generations.”
What is the American Academy of Pediatrics?
True or False A person who identifies with a group of people who have experienced historical trauma most likely has only inherited negative traits as a result of responses to cope with trauma.
False. While it is true that historical and intergenerational trauma can compound trauma responses, there has also been documented evidence of immense resilience. There are numerous individuals in marginalized groups who have risen up even as others tried to keep them down. Resilience can be developed and passed down through skills taught from one generation to the next.
Simply, traumatization that results from experiencing racism in any of its many forms. Importantly, this doesn’t have to be one major isolated event, but rather it can result from an accumulation of experiences like daily subtle acts of discrimination or microaggressions.
What is Racial Trauma?
A 2015 studyTrusted Source found that compared with other racial groups, Black children with severe pain from appendicitis are less likely to receive pain medication. This suggests that racial bias is causing medical professionals to use different thresholds of pain for different racial groups, either inadvertently or purposefully, before administering care. TRUE or FALSE?
TRUE