Healing the American Indian Soul Wound

  • Eduardo Duran
  • Bonnie Duran
  • Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart
  • Susan Yellow Horse-Davis
Chapter
Part of the The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping book series (SSSO)

Abstract

It was almost two decades ago that the authors became aware of the concept of a “soul wound,” although knowledge of what is characterized as the “soul wound” had been an integral part of indigenous knowledge ever since Columbus landed in this hemisphere and Cortez arrived in Vera Cruz, Mexico. Native people who were asked about problems in the contemporary Native community explained that present problems had their etiology in the traumatic events known as the “soul wound” Knowledge of the soul wound has been present in Indian country for many generations. Current synonymous terms include historical trauma (Brave Heart, in press a), historical legacy, American Indian holocaust, and intergenerational posttraumatic stress disorder (Brave Heart & De Brun, in press). In addition, there has been academic literature documenting the American Indian holocaust, thus bringing some validation to the feelings of a community that has not had the world acknowledge the systematic genocide perpetrated on it (Brave Heart-Jordan & DeBruyn, 1995; Brown, 1971; Legters, 1988; Stannard, 1992; Thornton, 1987).

Keywords

Indian Health Native People Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Indigenous Knowledge Acculturative Stress 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 1998

Authors and Affiliations

  • Eduardo Duran
    • 1
  • Bonnie Duran
    • 1
  • Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart
    • 2
  • Susan Yellow Horse-Davis
    • 2
  1. 1.First NationsAlbuquerqueUSA
  2. 2.Graduate School of Social WorkUniversity of DenverDenverUSA

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