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Socio-political & Historical Context
For communities of color in the United States, current and past political and social events help shape the context of their lives in ways that many other Americans do not experience. The study of trauma, historical and present, has connected historical genocide, assimilation, oppression and disparate treatment to such symptoms as depression, suicidal thoughts, anger, anxiety, low self-esteem and difficulty in both recognizing and expressing emotions.50,51
- In the case of African Americans, historical trauma includes slavery and race-based segregation that excluded them from health, education, social and economic resources.52 Some research proposes that African Americans today suffer from a type of trauma called Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, which has its origins in the systematic dehumanization of African slaves that has been passed down through generations of their descendents. This trauma has been compounded by society’s ongoing oppression of African Americans and other cultures outside the dominant culture.53
- For American Indians, the mental health consequences of historical trauma and unresolved grief are compounded by the multiple generations of American Indian youth who were sent to boarding schools for financial reasons or to acculturate – separating them from their parents, language and culture. This separation has contributed to the struggle that many American Indians face with knowing how to parent and being afraid of authority.54
- The current political environment also plays an important role in the mental health issues of immigrants, such as Latinos and Asian Americans. Social and political factors may contribute to trauma, distrust of authority and other mental health needs of clients and services need to be considered within that context in order to meet their individualized needs. Many immigrants who arrive in this country without proper documentation live in constant fear of deportation.55 Their sociopolitical context includes historical trauma and a current sense of neglect and hostility. Sociopolitical responsive services recognize the unique challenges of immigrant populations resulting from migration from societies with different social and political experiences than mainstream American society.56
A culturally responsive mental health system must recognize the broader social and political factors that underlie mental health issues for communities of color.
- For example, data57 show that therapy cannot be successful unless it recognizes the range of social and political issues that contribute to client distress, instead of only identifying the individual issues that result from attempts to adjust to the social and political conditions.
- Even the American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines recognize the importance of sociopolitical factors in a client’s treatment, such as the generational history, the history of migration, the citizenship status, English fluency, the extent of support from the family and community, and the level of stress resulting from acculturation.58
A successful mental health system must find ways to integrate mainstream services with culturally-traditional services to address the mental health needs of communities of color within the broader context of their lives.
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