For many, the real impacts and deep emotional trauma of catastrophic events such as wars, family violence and brutal colonisation have been passed through generations. Evidence around emergent mental health issues and the detrimental effects on social and emotional health and wellbeing are increasingly becoming better documented. What is slowly emerging is evidence pointing to the pathophysiological effects of these same events.

In the context of the recent COVID pandemic, Koorie doctor, Professor Alex Brown points out that societal factors such as institutionalised and interpersonal racism, higher levels of psychological distress, self-harm, suicide and disconnectedness will widen health inequities experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (Brown, 2021).

In her article, Understanding the Australian Aboriginal experience of collective, historical and intergenerational trauma, Karen Menzies examines different forms of trauma and the intergenerational impacts on health, health behaviours, social challenges and the physical manifestations of health conditions as a result of trauma. Menzies discusses examples of the traumatic impacts of the Holocaust and Vietnam to examine parallels experienced by First Nations peoples of South Africa, New Zealand, Alaska, the United States and Australia. Menzies does this specifically within the context of colonialist atrocities (Menzies, 2019).

While acknowledging there is a need for further research, she refers to a 2013 study by Scott et al, in which a cross-national study involving 38,051 participants across 14 countries found a significant link between trauma and nine physical conditions. These nine conditions were arthritis, back and neck pain, headaches, heart disease, high blood pressure, asthma, peptic ulcers, chronic lung disease and type 2 diabetes (Menzies, 2019) (Scott et al, 2013). Subsequently, Menzies argues that the current approach to addressing health inequities will have limited impact unless more focus is placed on understanding the link between physical health and trauma. She refers to it as examining the causes of the causes of inequities in health (Menzies, 2019).

Workshops delivered by the Diabetes Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Unit have their basis in examining these causes of causes. In doing so, the Unit follows the lead of not only academics such as Menzies and Scott, but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander academics, clinicians and leaders such as Dr Alex Brown, Dr Mark Wenitong and Dr Ngaire Brown. Understanding Diabetes workshops and Diabetes Yarning Facilitator Training workshops delivered by the Unit provide a focus on dealing with the real impacts and deep emotions of colonisation as a precursor to effectively managing high blood glucose levels associated with type 2 diabetes.

References:

Brown, A. (2021). The more things change, the more they stay the same: enduring inequity in Indigenous health in Australian Health Review, 2021 Vol 45, pp 395 – 396. http://doi.org/10.1071/AHv45n4_ED1

Menzies, (2019) Understanding the Australian Aboriginal experience of collective, historical and intergenerational trauma in International Social Work 2019, Vol. 62(6) 1522–1534. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020872819870585

Scott, K.M., Koenen, S., Aguilar-Gaxiola, J., Alonso, M.C., Angermeyer, C., Benjet, R., Bruffaerts, J.M., Caldas-de-Almeida, G., de Girolamo, S., Florescu, N., Iwata, D., Levinson, C.C.W., Lim, S., Murphy, J., Ormel, J., Posada-Villa, J & Kessler, R.C. (2013). Associations between Lifetime Traumatic Events and Subsequent Chronic Physical Conditions: A Cross-National, Cross-Sectional Study in PLOS ONE 8 (11): e80573. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0080573