Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: Part I

“We rarely look at our history to understand how African Americans adapted their behavior over centuries in order to survive the stifling effects of chattel slavery, effects which are evident today.” -Dr. Joy DeGruy

What is Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome?

Would you believe me if I said I have 400 years of trauma in my DNA? Well it’s true. How can this be? Well, imagine having grandparents who were slaves. With slavery beginning in 1619 and ending in 1865, these grandparents experienced being taken from their homelands, and their offspring, for more than 200 years, experienced being separated from family, raped, beaten, verbally abused, and used as unauthorized medical experimental subjects. Furthermore, the next generation of this family were “free.” They lived during segregation and the Jim Crow era from 1866 until 1955 where they were unable to vote, lynched, and harassed by groups such as the KKK. Even more, the next generation from 1955 to present day are still faced with adversity as both unarmed shootings and incarceration rates of African-Americans are on the rise.

Within these 400 years, black people have not received any therapy or mental health treatment for their trauma. Even though mental health and self-care are prevalent topics in today’s society, there is still not enough attention on mental health in communities of color, especially African-American communities. If you think about it, you would think that African-Americans would be more prone to mental health illnesses compared to white Americans because of what they have endured from slavery until present day. Although we have access to mental health services to attempt to heal from our trauma, black people are afraid of the stigmas associated with mental health. Because of this, many black people are apprehensive about receiving treatment and decide to suffer internally. What is more, there is a proper term for the trauma African-Americans suffer from: Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome also known as PTSS. PTSS, defined by Dr. Joy DeGruy in her book Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, is defined as

 “. . . a condition that exists when a population has experienced multigenerational trauma resulting from centuries of slavery and continues to experience oppression and institutionalized racism today. Added to this continuation is a belief (real or imagined) that the benefits of the society in which they live are not accessible to them” (DeGruy, 105).

This trauma has the ability to be passed down from generation to generation by epigenetics. Epigenetics is how your environment influences your genes. Researchers state,

“Behavior can be affected by events in previous generations which have been passed on through a form of genetic memory animal studies suggest. A body of research shows that your DNA may contain a biological memory of the stress your grandparents endured. Can trauma stress, and even nightmares be passed down from generation to generation? Scientists say yes.” (DeGruy, 101).  

3 Categories of Behavior Patterns 

As a result, there are three identified patterns of behavior that PTSS causes: Vacant esteem, ever present anger, and racist socialization.

1. Vacant Esteem 

Vacant esteem is the belief that one has little or no worth, and it is influenced by three spheres: Society, community, and family. DeGruy states,

“Society influences us through its institutions, laws, policies, and media. The communities in which we live influence us through establishing norms and encouraging conformity to society at large. Our families influence us through the ways in which we are raised and groomed to take our place, as our parents see it, in the community and society. When these influences all promote a disparaging and limiting identity to which we believe we are confined, vacant esteem can be the result” (DeGruy, 108).

Society contributes to vacant esteem because of segregated schools, the way African-Americans are disproportionately represented in penal institutions, and the media’s display of African-Americans. Schools are more segregated now compared to the 1970s because of segregated neighborhoods and decades of redlining. Furthermore, 1 in 3 black men and 1 in 18 black women are expected to go to prison in their lifetime while 1 in 17 white men and 1 in 111 white women are expected to go to prison in their lifetime. Even more, the media displays negative images of African-Americans as criminals, disadvantaged, academically deficient, and sexually irresponsible. These images presented by society influence how African-Americans view themselves and impacts their assessment of their worth (DeGruy, 110).

3 Signs of Vacant Esteem

Consequently, with societal influences, there are 3 visible signs of vacant esteem: The absent fear of death, crabs in a barrel, and feeling responsible for the entire community.

1. The Absent Fear of Death

DeGruy uses an anecdote about two African-American youth to explain the absent fear of death. In this anecdote there are two young boys who get into an argument over nothing important. The argument escalates and one of the boys pulls out a gun and points it at the others' head. The other boy did not flinch and told him to shoot; he was willing to die rather than settle the argument. In the end, one boy shoots the other, and the bullet goes through his jaw; however, he survived. Likewise, we hear similar stories with gang rivalries, and drug dealers who haven't received their money on time who use gun violence as solutions. Because of vacant esteem, some African-Americans believe their life has little worth and would rather risk losing it over things that are unimportant.

2. Crabs in a Barrel

Crabs in a barrel is a phrase that explains how African-Americans undermine each others achievements. This can be seen in both African-American youth and adults where they seek to bring down others that look like them. It is difficult for them to celebrate the successes of other black people, and instead they devalue each other.

3. Feeling Responsible for the Entire Community

You know every time we hear a news story on the television about something horrific such as a shooting, rape, robbery, etc. we all say to ourselves "I hope the person wasn't black," and we wait until the suspect appears on the screen. If the suspect is black we all have that feeling of guilt within ourselves because we feel responsible for the entire black community.

2. Ever Present Anger 

Furthermore, ever present anger is another pattern of behavior caused by PTSS. As black people, we always hear phrases such as “why are they always so angry?” or we are labeled as “the angry black woman” or “the angry black man.” This anger derives from centuries of our hopes and dreams continuously being undermined by institutions and people. Even more, we’re degraded by a society that has trivialized our history because “slavery was 400 years ago,” yet they fail to realize slavery still affects us today. Therefore, we have a reason to be angry; however, society does not see this reason as valid because “we should forget about slavery.”

3. Racist Socialization 

The last pattern of behavior is racist socialization. Racist socialization, simply put, is adopting the slave master’s value system. Since slavery, black people have been thought of as inferior to whites because the foundation of this value system is white superiority and black inferiority. The three ways in which this value system is adopted is by believing in white supremacy, projecting images of inferiority to confirm the views of white racists, and trying to meet European beauty standards. To begin with, many African-Americans still carry the mentality that white people are superior, and they feel they are not deserving of living a privileged lifestyle. This mentality is sickening, and it is also a result of the first pattern of behavior I discussed, vacant esteem. What is more, African-Americans confirm the views of white racists by glamorizing the thug life and lack of education, limiting their aspirations to athletics and entertainment, and being sexually irresponsible. The last way the value system is adopted is through the attempt to meet European beauty standards. This can be seen by black people utilizing skin-lightening creams and hair-straightening products, so they can have more European features and feel accepted by society. With all these patterns of behaviors identified from Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, the next question is, how do we heal from this trauma? Stay tuned for next week’s article about finding ways to heal!