How Historical Trauma Can Affect Your Clients

Historical trauma emphasizes that the impacts of traumatic events such as colonization, slavery, war, genocide, forced displacement, or systemic discrimination don't only affect individuals who directly experienced them, but can also shape the well-being, identity, and collective memory of future generations.

The key idea behind historical trauma is that it is not only an event that affects people at the time it occurs, but its effects are transmitted through cultural, social, and familial structures. These effects can manifest in various ways, such as through mental health issues, substance abuse, disrupted family dynamics, a sense of disconnection from cultural heritage, and patterns of chronic stress.

Examples of historical trauma include:

• The impact of colonization on Indigenous peoples, which involved violence, land dispossession, forced assimilation, and cultural erasure.
• The enslavement of Africans and its ongoing effects on descendants, including systemic racism and social inequality.
• The Holocaust and the long-lasting trauma experienced by Jewish communities.
• The forced relocation and internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

How historical trauma works:

Sotero (2006) presented a conceptual framework of historical trauma that consists of three distinct phases. Here are the three phases you might see in the therapy room with current clients, plus how it can also affect successive generations.



Healing from historical trauma often involves a process of community reconciliation, cultural revitalization, storytelling, acknowledgment of past wrongs, and trauma-informed care. Many communities who have experienced historical trauma work toward restoring cultural practices, language, and healing rituals as part of reclaiming their identity and well-being.