Transgenerational Trauma & Resilience in Post-Katrina New Orleans

AMHCA 2007 - New Orleans

Transgenerational Trauma & Resilience

in Post-Katrina New Orleans

Rachael D. GoodmanCirecie A. West-OlatunjiUniversity of Florida


The Effects of Hurricane Katrina on Residents of New Orleans• Displacement• Increase in unemployment• Closing of child care facilities, medical facilities,

schools, libraries, restaurants• “Skyrocketing” insurance costs• Economic hardship • Increase in housing costs• Lack of public transportation

GNOCDC, 2007


Transgenerational Trauma• Trauma that is experienced intergenerationally despite the absence

direct exposure to a traditional traumatic stimulus (Davidson & Mellor, 2000; Nagata, 1990)

• Developed from the study of Nazi Holocaust survivor’s children (Danieli, 1998)o Extended to study of family members of veterans from World War II and

the Vietnam War, indigenous peoples, individuals and groups living under repressive regimes, experiencing domestic violence and crime, and living with infection and life-threatening diseases

• Symptoms may include depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation and behavior, substance abuse, and violence (Duran, Duran, Yellow Horse Brave Heart & Yellow Horse-Davis, 1998; Felsen, 1998; Raphael, Swan & Martinek, 1998; Simons & Johnson, 1998)


Current Limitations of Mental Health Services• Mental health literature on trauma is based on the DSM-

IV-TR’s definition of a traumatic event provided in the criteria for PTSD (Scaer, 2001)o “the person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an

event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to physical integrity of self or others” (APA, 2000, p. 467)

• Transgenerational trauma is excluded because a traumatic event must be directly experienced (Burstow, 2003; Danieli, 1998)

• Systemic oppression as transgenerational trauma is ruled out because it does not necessarily refer to an even that is physically dangerous (Burstow)


Resilience• “Resilience is the ability to ‘bounce back’ after significant

adversity and risk” (Echterling, Presbury & McKee, 2005, p. 10)

• Offers explanation for differential outcomes

• Mental health professionals can use resilience to focus on strengths of an individual or group and promote healthy functioning despite adversity


Resilience & Cultural ContextWhy is Resilience an effective theory for transgenerational trauma?

1. Inclusion of transgenerational factors (Walsh, 2002)o Intergenerational factors may be identified that hinder or help resilience

2. Incorporation of individual and family factors (Waller, 2001)

1. Stressors may come from an individual experience, family stressors and the environment, transgenerational trauma

3. Individual and family defined stressors or risk factors1. Risk factors (traumatic events) not limited by the DSM-IV-TR definition of trauma 2. Understanding of oppression is necessary to understanding resilience (Waller, 2001)

4. Individual and family defined strengths & protective factors (Walsh, 2002)o Culturally-based coping mechanismso Individuals and families define healthy functioning


Case Illustration One (K-8 school): “Antoinette”

• Antoinette is a 38-year-old, African American high school English teacher from New Orleans. Antoinette’s family has lived in New Orleans for three generations, going back to the early 1900s. Antoinette’s husband, also an African American, works in the construction field. The couple has two children, ages 14 and 10. Despite both Antoinette and her husband’s employment, the family’s income falls below the poverty line. The family evacuated New Orleans just prior to Hurricane Katrina. They resided in Houston for the nine months following the storm. During their time in Houston, Antoinette and her husband were able to find comparable work and send their children to school. After nine months in Houston, the family returned to New Orleans.


Case Illustration Two (Monteleone Hotel):

“Arthur”• Arthur is a divorced, 55 year old managerial employee at a

downtown, locally-owned hotel who lives alone. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, Arthur lived in his single-family dwelling home in a middle-class neighborhood in New Orleans.

• Although Arthur had never been to counseling, he was interested in sharing his story about the loss of his material possessions and the privacy of his home.

• In group counseling sessions, Arthur initially was hesitant about disclosing his feelings. However, during the Story Circle, Arthur was able to express his sense of being overwhelmed by the task of rebuilding and the loss associated with the destruction of his neighborhood community.

• Additionally, Arthur talked about the challenges at work and the extended hours without relief due to the shortage of workers.


Case Illustration Three (SAMHSA) : “Brenda”

• Brenda is the wife of a police officer who has been serving in New Orleans without interruption. She returned to the city after approximately one month following Hurricane Katrina and has been with her husband for the last 2 months on one of the cruise ships docked in the Port of New Orleans.

• Some of the issues expressed by Brenda include fear, helplessness, depression, anxiety, and anger. She has attempted to talk about her feelings with her husband but he is unresponsive. She cries a lot and spends most of her time in bed.

• On one occasion, she spoke with the counselor about upcoming surgery for her dog who was evacuated to the Midwest to live with her niece.


Transgenerational Issues

• Vulnerability of New Orleans (Fischetti, 2001) o Below sea-level o Continual loss of its buffering delta

• Previous disasters (Brinkley, 2006)o Hurricane Betsy, 1965, flooded some parts of the city with eight

feet of water and killed 65 people o Hurricanes Andrew and Georges, in 1992 and 1998 respectively,

both narrowly missedo Purposeful flooding, 1927, the Great Mississippi Flood


Transgenerational Issues (cont.)

• Assessing for prior traumas of natural disasterso Previous experiences with disasters either directly or

by a previous generation

• Assessing for resilienceo Risk factorso Protective factors


Effective Interventions For Transgenerational Trauma

• Collectively identify the issue and try new perspectives (Nobles, 1984)

• Collective, narrative group approach through the Story Circle format (Junebug Productions, 2000; Williams-Clay, West-Olatunji & Cooley, 2001)

• Systemic/ecological perspective (Pardeck & Chung, 1997) through the Community-as-client model (West-Olatunji & Watson, 1999)


Implications for Counselors• Mental health counselors should be informed

about contextual issueso Sociopolitical history and systemic factors influence

functioning, resources, and risks

• Effective counseling can utilize client’s personal and cultural resourceso Facilitating the use of transgenerational protective

factors and coping mechanisms can improve counselor efficacy


Recommendations for Advocacy & Outreach

• Become aware of the contextual issues

• Partner with community members and stakeholders as informants and guides

• Collaborate with community members to engage in advocacy

• Dialogue and self-assess to ensure appropriateness of interventions and inclusion of transgenerational trauma and resilience in assessment and treatment process


Future research is needed to…• Further establish the effects of transgenerational trauma

• Develop effective assessments for transgenerational trauma

• Establish interventions for transgenerational trauma using resilience

• Create outreach protocols for assisting communities with transgenerational trauma


Q & A


Counselors & Psychologist for National & International Disasters (CPNID)


Transgenerational Trauma & Resilience Bibliography• American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of

mental disorders (4th ed., text revision). Arlington, VA: Author.• Brinkley, D. (2006). The great deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the

Mississippi Gulf Coast. New York: HarperCollins.• Burstow, B. (2003). Toward a radical understanding of trauma and trauma work.

Violence Against Women, 9, 1293-1317.• Danieli, Y. (1998). Introduction: History and conceptual foundations. In Y. Danieli

(Ed.), International handbook of multigenerational legacies of trauma (pp. 1-20). New York: Plenum.

• Davidson, A. C., & Mellor, D. J. (2001). The adjustment of children of Australian Vietnam veterans: Is there evidence for the transgenerational transmission of the effects of war-related trauma? Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 35, 345-351.

• Duran, E., Duran, B., Yellow Horse Brave Heart, M., & Yellow Horse-Davis, S. (1998). Healing the American Indian soul wound. In Y. Danieli (Ed.), International handbook of multigenerational legacies of trauma (pp. 341-354). New York: Plenum.

• Echterling, L. G., Presbury, J. H., & McKee, J. E. (2005). Crisis intervention: Promoting resilience and resolution in troubled time. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

• Felsen, I. (1998). Transgenerational transmission of effects of the Holocaust. In Y. Danieli (Ed.), International handbook of multigenerational legacies of trauma (pp. 43-68). New York: Plenum.


Transgenerational Trauma & Resilience Bibliography (cont.)• Fischetti, M. (2001). Drowning New Orleans. Scientific American, 285, 76-85.• Greater New Orleans Community Data Center [GNOCDC]. (2007, June). The Katrina

Index: Tracking recovery of New Orleans & the Metro area. Retrieved from http://www.gnocdc.org/KI/KatrinaIndex.pdf

• Junebug Productions. (2000). Junebug’s story circle process. http://home.gnom.org/~junebug/story4.html.

• Nagata, D. K. (1990). The Japenese American Internment: Exploring the transgenerational consequences of traumatic stress. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 3, 47-69.

• Nobles, W. W.(1986). Ancient Egyptian Thought and the Development of African (Black) Psychology. In M. Karenga & J. H. Carruthers (Eds.) Kemet and the African worldview: Research, rescue and restoration (pp. 100-118). Los Angeles: University of Sankore Press.

• Pardeck, J. T. & Chung, W. S. (1997). Treating powerless minorities through an ecosystem approach. Adolescence, 32, 625-34.

• Raphael, B., Swan, P., & Martinek, N. (1998). Intergenerational aspects of trauma for Australian Aboriginal people. In Y. Danieli (Ed.), International handbook of multigenerational legacies of trauma (pp. 327-339). New York: Plenum.


Transgenerational Trauma & Resilience Bibliography (cont.)• Scaer, R. C. (2001). The body bears the burden: Trauma, dissociation, and

disease. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press, Inc. • Simons, R. L., & Johnson, C. (1998). An examination of competing

explanations for the intergenerational transmission of domestic violence. In Y. Danieli (Ed.), International handbook of multigenerational legacies of trauma (pp. 553-570). New York: Plenum.

• Waller, M. A. (2001). Resilience in ecosystemic context: Evolution of the concept. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 71, 290-297.

• Walsh, F. (2002). A family resilience framework: Innovative practice applications. Family Relations, 51, 130-137.

• West-Olatunji, C., Watson, Z. (1999). Community-as-client mental health needs assessment: Use of culture-centered theory & research. The Community Psychologist, 31, 36-38.

• Williams-Clay, L., West-Olatunji, C., & Cooley, C. (2001). Keeping the story alive: Narrative in the African-American church and community, with Educational Resource Information Clearinghouse - Counseling and Related Services (ERIC-CASS) ERIC No: ED462666, pp. 1-9.


Contact InformationCirecie A. West-Olatunji, Ph.D.Assistant ProfessorDepartment of Counselor EducationCollege of EducationUniversity of Florida1204 Norman Hall PO Box 117046Gainesville, FL 32611(352) 392-0731 x-235(352) 846-2697 (fax)[email protected]

Rachael D. Goodman, Ed.S.Doctoral StudentDepartment of Counselor EducationCollege of EducationUniversity of Florida1215 Norman Hall,PO Box 117046Gainesville, FL 32611(352) 392-0731 x-200(352) 846-3011 (fax)[email protected]

Documents

Transgenerational Trauma & Resilience in Post-Katrina New Orleans