RELIEVING ANCESTRAL & HISTORICAL TRAGEDY - Cataclysmic Interference by David Kanosh

This is an interesting form of trauma which describes historical unresolved grief and continued generational trauma that native americans are experiencing from colonization to the boarding schools to urban relocations and the mental health issues that accompany it e.g. child abuse, violence, mental health disorders and addictions of all sorts. The end result of this trauma is the current social pathology of high rates of suicide, homicide, domestic violence, child abuse, alcoholism, racism and other social problems among Alaskan Natives and other native americans.

1st, colonization greatly impacted the functioning of the native americans and continues to impact them today. Natives had to adapt to a worldview different from their own often in conflict with their belief systems and traditions. In addiction native americans were relocated off of their lands and forced to become reliant on the government for food and supplies. Many traditions were lost as were many languages there was a hierarchy shift from one of equality to that of a male dominant society and the functioning of families changed with the overall result being a loss of spirit. This loss now manifests itself in alcoholism/addiction, child abuse, mental health disorders and violence against women.

Then boarding schools took native children away from their homes and punished them harshly for speaking their languages or practicing their traditions. This resulted in the cycle of abuse and loss of cultural identity that began the process of self-hate. Children who grew up not wanting to be "indian" often revisited the cycles of abuse and cultural poverty on their own children, resulting in a whole generation of natives growing up not knowing what it meant to be native.

Many left the reservations or their villages and ended up on such places as skid row with other displaced individuals. Too ashamed to go back to their villages or reservations and unable to assimilate, drugs and alcohol often became the 'medication' of choice once again contributing to the self-hate and shame that fosters internalized oppression.

Multigenerational trauma can be stopped so that it doesn't get handed down to future generations. It will take effort from both the dominate culture and those who directly suffer from multigenerational trauma. All of us need to become more culturally aware and sensitive to its impacts. As a society of healing we must work to change the factors that perpetuate multigenerational trauma such as poverty, poor health care, lack of education and racism/discrimination. At the individual level people who suffer can seek help from culturally competent care-providers.

To the EFT practitioner is a unique opportunity to do surrogate tapping not just for those living but for those who have passed on perhaps even many generations ago. We cannot change what happened in the past but we can certainly change the ripple effect's impact on our emotional status of the present and physical well-being.

Setting the ground, I often use the Tell-The-Story technique and for them to then go into the surrogate mode for tapping.

More on this later! Yeegu.ayax'wan (Go strong)!!

David