MARCH 2022 | ISSUE NO. 1
Can Psychologists Help Us Heal Racial Trauma?
There are increasing numbers of psychologists who have developed the knowledge, skills, and self-awareness to understand racial trauma and how to treat it. By: Michael Likier, PhD
In 1619, the first Africans were stolen from their homeland and forced into enslavement on these shores. From there, the attempted genocide of the Native American population, and the brutalization of African bodies grew into a multigenerational nightmare from which we have yet to heal. Despite the racist history of the United States, there has always been a concurrent history of resistance and pursuance of healing and justice comprised of people of all racial and ethnic groups. One present day manifestation of this is the naming and treatment of racial trauma. Racial trauma occurs as a result of a range of violent acts. On one end of the continuum is physical violence, such as the police murders of George Floyd, Sandra Bland, Amir Locke and countless others. Racial trauma is exacerbated by the repeated exposure to these murders on various media outlets. On the other end are racial microaggressions, the sometimes small, sometimes unintentional, often powerful slights, insults, and invalidations that Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) suffer daily. They are called “micro” not because of their impact, but
because they are often hard for those who did not experience it to see, or sometimes they leave the victim questioning the motivation of the perpetrator. Research shows that BIPOC individuals and families who experience such violence, and/or daily microaggressions, are likely to develop psychological symptoms such as depression, anxiety, hypervigilance, insomnia, and panic. As a result, some folks may attempt to self-medicate or engage in other self-destructive/avoidant attempts at coping, while others adapt healthier coping mechanisms, turning to religious institutions or family and community supports. But, what about psychological help? Since racism on every level, personal, institutional, and structural negatively impacts BIPOC and White people, psychotherapy with a well-trained, compassionate psychologist can be a powerful vehicle for healing. However, due to psychology’s historic resistance to naming racial trauma outright, many psychologists are ill-equipped to work with it. Fortunately, this is changing. There are increasing numbers of psychologists who have