Contributions of African-centered (Africentric) psychology: A call for inclusion in APA-accredited graduate psychology program curriculum.

Over the past few years, there has been increased visibility of, and attention paid to, enduring issues such as racial discrimination toward Black Americans. Black psychologists have been called upon to explain various race-related mental health issues to the public, as well as their colleagues and students. Discussions about how to heal from persistent, intergenerational, oppressive attacks on the African psyche are important, but the theories and treatments in which most practitioners are trained and considered "best practices" are Eurocentric in nature. African-centered (or Africentric) psychology is a well-established school of thought, predating the philosophies often discussed in Western/American psychology's History and Systems curriculum, that provides an authentic understanding of the psychology of people of African descent from an African perspective. In this article, we present the historical contention about the lack of inclusion of an African perspective in conceptualizing and addressing the psychological needs of people of African descent, provide an overview of African-centered psychology including its underlying worldview and philosophy, development, and key contributors, and advocate for the inclusion of Africentric psychology in APA-accredited psychology graduate programs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The impact of historical loss on Native American college students' mental health: The protective role of ethnic identity.

Culturally relevant stressors and protective factors are vital to understanding and effectively supporting Native American/Alaska Native (NA/AN) college students' mental health and well-being. This study examined the theorized pathways among historical loss, well-being, psychological distress, and the proposed cultural buffer of ethnic identity in the indigenist stress-coping model (ISCM). Cross-sectional data were collected via online survey and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Participants were a national sample of 242 NA/AN college students. Participants were predominantly women (n = 185; 76%) and median age was 21 years. Partial support was found for the ISCM. Participants reported frequent thoughts of historical loss, which were associated with lower well-being and higher levels of psychological distress. Ethnic identity moderated the relationship between historical loss and well-being such that those with stronger ethnic identities reported a weaker relationship between historical loss and lower well-being. Results underscore the importance of culturally specific risk and protective factors in NA/AN college students' resiliency and inform needed interventions and systemic change in higher education. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Risk factors for the intergenerational transmission of depression in women and girls: Understanding neural correlates of major depressive disorder and the role of early-onset maternal depression.

Deficits in neural reward processing have been implicated in the etiology of depression and have been observed in high-risk individuals. However, depression is a heterogeneous disorder, and not all depressed individuals exhibit blunted neural reward response, suggesting the need to examine more specific depression phenotypes. Early-onset depression, a well-defined phenotype, has been associated with greater intergenerational transmission of depression and appears more closely linked to neural reward processing deficits. The present study examined whether a maternal history of early-onset depression was associated with neural reward response among mothers and their daughters. Mothers with and without a history of depression, as well as their biological, adolescent daughters (N = 109 dyads), completed a monetary reward guessing task while electroencephalogram was collected. Analyses focused on the Reward Positivity (RewP), an event-related potential following reward receipt. Adjusting for current depressive symptoms, maternal early-onset depression was associated with a blunted RewP in the mothers and a numerically smaller RewP in their never-depressed, adolescent daughters. Maternal adult-onset depression was not statistically associated with a blunted RewP in mothers or daughters. Thus, a blunted RewP appears to be a trait-like vulnerability marker for depression that emerges before depression onset and relates to more specific depression phenotypes (e.g., early-onset depression). These findings have implications for early identification of individuals at risk of depression and for developing more targeted interventions.

Clínicas do Testemunho na elaboração do traumático: violência de Estado na ditadura civil-militar brasileira / Clínicas del Testimonio en la elaboración de traumatismos: la violencia de Estado en la dictadura cívico-militar brasileña / Testimony Clinic and trauma: State violence in Brazilian civil-military dictatorship

Na ditadura civil-militar brasileira (1964-1985) ocorreu uma violação sistemá-tica de Direitos Humanos por parte do Estado, o que impôs à sociedade medo e silenciamento. Pessoas vítimas dessas violências não tiveram espaço social que legitimasse a realidade e o sofrimento de suas vivências. Em 2012, foi lançado o projeto Clínicas do Testemunho, iniciando um trabalho de reparação psíquica dessas vítimas. Estudando as especificidades do trauma de violência de Estado e tortura política e apresentando os conceitos de espaço potencial e de testemunho, o objetivo do artigo é estabelecer um diálogo entre esses conceitos e o trabalho realizado pelas Clínicas do Testemunho, para compreender como esta reparação psíquica pode se dar na prática. Trata-se de um estudo teórico fundamentado na Psicanálise. Conclui-se que o testemunho é uma ferramenta potente para se trabalhar o traumático. Discutir o tema é um posicionamento político, de resgate da história, memória e verdade.

En la dictadura militar brasileña (1964-1985), hubo violación sistemática de los Derechos Humanos por parte del Estado, que impuso miedo y silencio a la sociedad. Las personas víctimas de esta violencia no tenían un espacio social que legitimara la realidad y el sufrimiento de sus experiencias. En 2012, se lanzó el proyecto Clínicas del Testimonio, comenzando un trabajo de repa-ración psíquica de esas víctimas. Al estudiar las especificidades del trauma de la violencia del Estado e de la tortura política, y los conceptos de espacio potencial y testimonio, el objetivo de este artigo es dialogar eses conceptos con el trabajo echo por las Clínicas de Testimonio, para comprender cómo se podría practicar esta reparación psíquica. Es un estudio teórico basado en el Psicoanálisis. Se concluye que el testimonio es una herramienta potente para trabajar el traumático. Discutir el tema es una posición política, rescate de la historia, memoria y verdad.

During the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship (1964-1985), Human Rights were systematically violated by the State, inflicting fear and silence on the country's citizens. Victims of violence did not have a social space that legi-timized the reality and suffering of their experiences. In 2012, the project Clinicas do Testemunho, (Testimony Clinic) was launched, working with the psychological reparation of these victims. Studying the specificities of State violence trauma and political torture, and also the concepts of Potential Space and testimony, this article aims to establish a dialogue between these concepts and the work developed by the Clinicas do Testemunho to understand how this work could take place in practice. This is a theoretical study based on Psychoanalysis that concludes that the testimony of those who witnessed it all is a powerful tool to work with trauma. Discussing the topic is also political, reclaiming history, memory, and truth.

Land Rights and Health Outcomes in American Indian/Alaska Native Children.

American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) land rights, sovereignty conflicts, and health outcomes have been significantly influenced by settler colonialism. This principle has driven the numerous relocations and forced assimilation of AI/AN children as well as the claiming of AI/AN lands across the United States. As tribes across the country begin to reclaim these lands and others continue to struggle for sovereignty, it is imperative to recognize that land rights are a determinant of health in AI/AN children. Aside from the demonstrated biological risks of environmental health injustices including exposure to air pollution, heavy metals, and lack of running water, AI/AN children must also face the challenges of historical trauma, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples crisis, and health care inequity based on land allocation. Although there is an undeniable relationship between land rights and the health of AI/AN children, there is a need for extensive research into the impacts of land rights and recognition of sovereignty on the health of AI/AN children. In this article we aim to summarize existing evidence describing the impact of these factors on the health of AI/AN children and provide strateg ies that can help pediatricians care and advocate for this population.

TRAUMA, PREJUDICE, LARGE-GROUP IDENTITY AND PSYCHOANALYSIS.

Escaping Nazi annexation of Austria, Sigmund Freud and his family left there in 1938 to live the rest of their lives in exile in the house now known as the Freud Museum in London. This paper is based upon the author's Holocaust Day Memorial Lecture delivered virtually at this museum on January 27, 2021, which marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. Besides remembering those who were lost during World War II, the content of this paper includes a description of different types of massive traumas, with a focus on disasters at the hand of the Other, and their impact on individuals and large groups. Sigmund Freud's ideas about relationships between communities and countries with adjoining territories, as well as large-group psychology, are updated, and individuals' and large groups' needs to grasp onto large-group identities is explained and illustrated with case reports.

Historical trauma and substance use among American Indian people with current substance use problems.

OBJECTIVE: In the United States, American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people suffer health inequities associated with alcohol and other drug use and also experience historical trauma symptoms resulting from colonization. Research suggests that historical trauma may be associated with substance use among AI/ANs. METHOD: As part of a Community-Based Participatory Research project with tribal partners from a rural AI reservation, our team collected cross-sectional survey data from 198 tribal members who self-identified as having substance use problems. We examined associations between historical trauma thoughts, historical trauma symptoms, and substance use outcomes. We also examined historical trauma symptoms, current trauma symptoms, awareness of systemic discrimination, and ethnic identity as moderators of the associations between historical trauma thoughts and substance use variables. RESULTS: Historical trauma thoughts, controlling for symptoms, were associated with greater abstinent days, fewer heavy alcohol use days, fewer drinks per drinking day, and fewer drug use days; historical trauma symptoms, controlling for thoughts, were associated only with fewer abstinent days. Moderation analyses showed that historical trauma thoughts were associated with better substance use outcomes when historical trauma symptoms were low, current trauma symptoms were low, awareness of systemic discrimination was high, and ethnic identity was high. CONCLUSION: When distressing trauma symptoms are low, historical trauma thoughts may act as a protective factor or as a marker for other factors associated with better substance use outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Psychoanalytic infant observation in China-The mental health of children separated from parents.

Through the lens of psychoanalytic infant observation, the authors introduce some characteristics of Chinese urban families, most of which have grandparents to participate in the caretaking of infants. In some cases, infants may be separated from parents. These phenomena are understood in terms of cultural, political, social, economic and psychological dimensions. The observational frame is compared to the clinical frame and the patient's handling of the frame throws light to his/her internal world. In some cases, this internal world may be populated by absent objects. Related mental health difficulties are illustrated by two clinical vignettes of adult patients who experienced long-term parental absence in childhood.

Addressing Intergenerational Trauma With an Innovative Instrument and Process.

Parent-child relationships have been researched in many ways. This article describes a qualitative study using the concept of reflective functioning (defined by Slade as the parent's capacity to hold and reflect upon her own and her child's internal mental experience) as a framework. The study focused on understanding the experiences of early childhood adversities, social supports, and the reflective functioning capacity of 11 young adult African American mothers and their children in urban and suburban areas of Minnesota. Findings included that the participants did not perceive adversities as bad, but as part of a daily norm; they demonstrated that they have social support and know how to access it; and they showed the ability to reflect on their children's emotions and experiences as well as the parent-child relationship. Participants talked about transmitting good things to their children while simultaneously protecting them from negative experiences. Thus, parents were able to change patterns that could affect their children's well-being.

Experiences of Intergenerational Trauma in Second-Generation Refugees: Healing Through Occupation.

BACKGROUND.: Trauma experienced in one generation can affect the health and well-being of subsequent generations, such as impairing life skills, personal contentment, behaviour patterns and sense of self. This phenomenon has predominantly been explored with descendants of European refugees and is not fully understood from an occupational perspective. PURPOSE.: This research explores how intergenerational trauma manifests in the occupational lives of second-generation Ilankai Tamil and Vietnamese refugees. METHODS.: Using qualitative narrative inquiry, 12 adult children of Tamil and Vietnamese refugees residing in the Greater Toronto Area participated in semi-structured interviews. Narratives were thematically analysed. FINDINGS.: Findings illustrate how sociohistorical, cultural and familial contexts influence the way second-generation refugees view what they can and should do. Many healing responses to intergenerational trauma include occupations focused on communal care. IMPLICATIONS.: Findings from this study reveal the unique struggles and needs of two understudied populations and the possibilities for healing through occupation.

Historical trauma and social support as predictors of psychological stress responses in American Indian adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: American Indians (AIs) live with historical trauma, or the cumulative emotional and psychological wounding that is passed from one generation to the next in response to the loss of lives and culture. Psychological consequences of historical trauma may contribute to health disparities. PURPOSE: Here, we investigate whether historical trauma predicts changes in psychological stress associated with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in AI adults. Based on the stress-sensitization theory, we hypothesize that greater historical trauma will predict greater increases in levels of psychological stress from before the onset of the pandemic to after. METHOD: Our analytic sample consisted of 205 AI adults. We measured historical trauma and levels of psychological stress before and after the onset of the pandemic. RESULTS: Using hierarchical regression models controlling for age, biological sex, income, symptoms of depression and anxiety, psychological stress at Time 1, COVID-19 specific stress, and childhood trauma, we found that greater historical trauma preceding the pandemic predicted greater increases in psychological stress (ß = 0.38, t = 5.17 p < .01, ΔR2 = 0.12), and levels of social support interacted with historical trauma to predict changes in psychological stress (ß = -0.19, t = -3.34, p = .001, ΔR2 = 0.04). The relationship between historical trauma and changes in stress was significant for individuals with low levels of social support. CONCLUSIONS: Historical trauma may contribute to AI mental health disparities, through heightened psychological stress responses to life stressors and social support appears to moderate this relationship.

Mythological Bridge Between Intergenerational Transmission of Unmourned Loss and Addiction.

In a study looking at severe substance abuse in an inpatient clinic, an indirect relationship was found between narcissistic loss in substance abusers and the trauma that has not yet been mourned by their ancestors or parents. The authors explore these links using psychoanalytic theory, Greek mythology, and a case study to investigate how these concepts are implicated in the histories of those who struggle with drug addiction. Psychoanalysis has explored the relationship between object loss and ego development but, more recently, the concept of the intergenerational transmission of trauma has been included in these discussions.

Metaphors For Trauma: A Cross-Cultural Qualitative Comparison in Brazil, India, Poland, and Switzerland.

The concept of psychological trauma implies that people experiencing traumatic stress are wounded, thus relating to the metaphor of a physical injury. Although this notion is widely accepted by clinicians and researchers in mental health, there is evidence of a broad range of metaphorical idioms for extremely aversive experiences or catastrophic events across different cultures. In this ethnopsychological study, we aimed to investigate and contrast culturally shared metaphors for trauma among four distinct cultural groups: two indigenous communities (Pitaguary from Brazil, Adivasis from India) and two rural communities (mountain villagers of Gondo, Switzerland; the Lemko ethnic minority in Poland). The communities in Brazil and in Poland were marked by historical trauma, and the communities in India and Switzerland each suffered from a natural disaster. Semistructured interviews that focused on metaphors shared within each community were conducted with key informants and laypersons (Brazil: N = 14, India: N = 28, Poland, N = 13, Switzerland: N = 9). We conducted separate metaphor analyses, then cross-culturally contrasted the findings from the four samples. Across the four cultural groups, we found similar metaphorical concepts of trauma related to bodily processes, such as shock, burden, and wound.

Intergenerational Effects of Maternal Holocaust Exposure on FKBP5 Methylation.

OBJECTIVE: There is growing evidence that exposure to trauma prior to conception can affect offspring. The authors have reported that adult offspring of Holocaust survivors showed lower methylation of FK506 binding protein 5 (FKBP5) intron 7, site 6 compared with Jewish comparison volunteers. The present study sought to replicate this finding in a larger sample and to examine parental and offspring correlates of observed effects. METHODS: Cytosine methylation was measured in blood using pyrosequencing. The independent replication sample consisted of 125 Holocaust offspring and 31 control subjects. Additional analyses, performed in a larger sample of 147 offspring and 40 control subjects that included the 31 previously studied participants, examined associations of parental trauma-related variables (i.e., sex of the exposed parent, parental posttraumatic stress disorder, age at Holocaust exposure) and offspring characteristics (i.e., childhood trauma exposure, lifetime psychiatric diagnoses, psychotropic medication use, FKBP5 rs1360780 genotype, FKBP5 gene expression, and neuroendocrine measures) with offspring FKBP5 methylation. RESULTS: FKBP5 site 6 methylation was significantly lower in Holocaust offspring than in control subjects, an effect associated with maternal Holocaust exposure in childhood and with lower offspring self-reported anxiety symptoms. FKBP5 gene expression was elevated in Holocaust offspring. FKBP5 methylation was associated with indices of glucocorticoid sensitivity but not with basal FKBP5 gene expression. CONCLUSIONS: This study replicates and extends the previously observed decrement in FKBP5 intron 7, site 6 methylation in Holocaust offspring. The predominance of this effect in offspring of mothers exposed during childhood implicates maternal developmental programming as a putative mechanism.

Intergenerational Influences on Faith-based Strategies Used in Response to Racial Discrimination Among Young African American Adults.

OBJECTIVE: In this report, we used a qualitative descriptive design to explore young African American adults' intergenerationally influenced strategies to experienced racial discrimination. METHODS: The study was guided by a qualitative descriptive design using criterion and snowball sampling, and semi-structured interview questions. We also explored, quantitatively, gender differences among the racial discrimination experiences encountered and the strategies used. FINDINGS: Forty-nine participants included in this report were an average age of 29.5 (SD = 10.1). Racial discrimination experiences included daily microaggressions such as insensitive comments, stereotyping, exclusion from work and school activities, perceived low expectations, inequities in employment, and police profiling. Intergenerationally influenced strategies used in response to these experiences included religious beliefs and practices, positive reframing, and modeling behaviors used by previous generations. These intergenerationally influenced strategies enabled participants to remain calm, to express goodwill toward others, and to be patient and hopeful for a better future. CONCLUSION: Since intergenerationally influenced strategies are likely potential sources of strength and resilience for young African Americans, knowledge of these strategies might be useful to health care practitioners seeking to improve the mental health care of this population.

Displacement trauma: complex states of personal, collective and intergenerational fragmentation and their intergenerational transmission.

Originally presented at the Journal's one day conference entitled 'Displacement: Contemporary Traumatic Experience' held in London in November 2019, this paper expands on the author's theory of the implicit psychological organizing gestalt, an associated pattern of psychic functions which operate in an integrated way to simultaneously structure and organize our experience of self-cohesion and self-continuity. The gestalt, which implicitly links the formation of psychic skin, body image, cultural skin and both personal and cultural identity with place, functions as an emergent non-conscious permanent presence or background 'constant'. It develops over time and emerges out of embodied emotional experiencing with the total environment - both human and non-human. The author argues that it is the rupture of this gestalt and the disorganizing consequences of its loss which underlies the experience of displacement trauma. If disruptions in the formation of the gestalt and/or its later rupture remain unrecognized and unrepresented then the absence creates a void which can be intergenerationally transmitted. Case material is presented which describes this and which highlights the ways in which the gestalt can contribute to our understanding of collective displacement anxiety, cultural trauma and cultural complexes.

Cet article a été présenté initialement à la conférence du Journal intitulée « Le Déplacement: Une expérience traumatique contemporaine ¼ qui s'est tenue à Londres en novembre 2019. Il développe la théorie de l'auteur d'une gestalt implicite d'organisation psychologique, un schéma associé de fonctions psychiques qui opère de manière intégrée pour simultanément structurer et organiser notre expérience de cohésion de soi et de continuité de soi. Cette gestalt, qui relie implicitement la formation de la peau psychique, de l'image du corps, de la peau culturelle et de l'identité personnelle et culturelle avec le lieu, fonctionne comme une présence permanente, non-consciente et émergente, une « constante ¼ de fond: elle se développe au fil du temps et émerge à partir de l'expérience émotionnelle incarnée avec l'environnement total - humain et non-humain. L'auteur soutient que c'est la rupture de cette gestalt et les conséquences perturbantes de sa perte qui sous-tendent l'expérience du traumatisme de déplacement. Si des perturbations dans sa formation et/ou sa rupture ultérieure restent non-reconnues et non-représentées, alors l'absence crée un vide qui peut être transmis d'une génération à l'autre. L'article présente du matériel clinique décrivant ceci. Ce matériel souligne les façons dont cette gestalt peut contribuer à notre compréhension de l'angoisse collective de déplacement et du traumatisme culturel.

Presentado inicialmente en la Conferencia del Journal, titulada 'Desplazamiento: Experiencia Traumática Contemporánea' llevada a cabo en Londres, en Noviembre 2019, el presente trabajo amplía - sobre la base de la teoría de la autora sobre la Gestalt de organización psicológica implícita - un patrón asociado de funciones psíquicas, las cuales operan en un modo integrado para estructurar simultáneamente nuestra experiencia de auto-continuidad y auto-cohesión. La Gestalt, la cual implícitamente vincula la formación de la piel psíquica, la imagen corporal, la piel cultural y la identidad personal y cultural, con el lugar, funciona como una presencia permanente, emergente, no-consciente o un 'constante' contexto: se desarrolla a través del tiempo y emerge a partir de la experiencia emocional corporizada con la totalidad del medio ambiente - humano y no-humano. La autora argumenta que es la ruptura de esta Gestalt y las consecuencias desorganizadoras de su pérdida, la cual subyace a la experiencia de trauma por desplazamiento. Si las interrupciones en su formación y/o ruptura permanecen sin ser reconocidas y sin representación, entonces la ausencia crea un vacío que puede transmitirse intergeneracionalmente. Se presenta material de un caso que describe y subraya los modos en los cuales la Gestalt puede contribuir a nuestra comprensión sobre la ansiedad por desplazamiento colectivo y trauma cultural.

An inheritance of terror: postmemory and transgenerational transmission of trauma in second generation jews after the holocaust.

Postmemory, as Hirsch (1997) has defined it, describes the relationship of the second generation to powerful, often traumatic experiences that preceded their births, but that were nevertheless transmitted as to seem to constitute memories of their own. Although subsequent research has created a more complete picture of the interactions between parents and children, Hirsch's definition has clear bearing on how descendants have attempted to commemorate the prior generation's ordeals through various means, some narrative, some visual, while still qualifying those modes as acts of transfer or the resonant after-effects of trauma. Focusing on the Holocaust, this article examines certain lines of communication between survivors and their children as mediums of transgenerational transmission of trauma through both theoretical and experiential models of identification. It also attempts to signify how parenting styles contribute to children's maladaptive behaviors if no intervention is staged. Additionally, I conclude that while second generation Jews may suffer negatively from intrapsychic and interpersonal problems observable by clinicians, they can also learn to integrate and understand their heritage through personal and therapeutic expression linked to the larger cultural context.