''Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing'' is a 2005 theoretical work by Joy DeGruy Leary. The book argues that the experience of

slavery in the United States The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865, predominantly in the South. Sl ...

and the continued discrimination and oppression endured by

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

creates intergenerational psychological trauma, leading to a psychological and behavioral

syndrome A syndrome is a set of medical signs and symptoms which are correlated with each other and often associated with a particular disease or disorder. The word derives from the Greek σύνδρομον, meaning "concurrence". When a syndrome is paired ...

common among present-day African Americans, manifesting as a lack of

self-esteem Self-esteem is confidence in one's own worth or abilities. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs about oneself (for example, "I am loved", "I am worthy") as well as emotional states, such as triumph, despair, pride, and shame. Smith and Mackie (2007) d ...

, persistent feelings of

anger Anger, also known as wrath or rage, is an intense emotional state involving a strong uncomfortable and non-cooperative response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat. A person experiencing anger will often experience physical effects, su ...

, and internalized racist beliefs. The book was first published by Uptone Press in

Milwaukie, Oregon Milwaukie is a city mostly in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States; a very small portion of the city extends into Multnomah County. The population was 20,291 at the 2010 census. Founded in 1847 on the banks of the Willamette River, the city ...

in 2005, with a later re-release by the author in 2017.

Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome

Expanding on a hypothesis of "post-traumatic slavery syndrome" by psychiatrist Alvin Francis Poussaint and journalist Amy L. Alexander, DeGruy wrote in her 2001 doctoral thesis that

"sustained traumatic injury as a direct result of slavery and continue to be injured by traumas caused by the larger society's policies of inequality, racism, and oppression." This is summed up in ''Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome'' as: In the book, DeGruy argues that PTSS is a result of unresolved

post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

arising from the experience of slavery, transmitted across generations down to the present day, along with the stress of contemporary racial prejudice (e.g. via racial

microaggression Microaggression is a term used for commonplace daily verbal, behavioral or environmental slights, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative attitudes toward stigmatized or culturally marginalized group ...

s). This manifests as a psychological, spiritual, emotional, and behavioral

that results in a lack of

, persistent feelings of

, and internalized racist beliefs. DeGruy states that PTSS is not a disorder that can simply be treated and remedied clinically but rather requires profound social change in individuals, as well as in institutions, that continue to reify inequality and injustice toward the descendants of enslaved Africans. The theory has been generative of subsequent academic work in

clinical psychology Clinical psychology is an integration of social science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and persona ...

and black studies.

Reception

In addition to forming the basis of public lectures and workshops offered by DeGruy and her contemporaries, the research described in ''Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome'' inspired an eponymous play, which was staged at the Henry Street Settlement Experimental Theater, New York, in 2001. Critical scholars say that the PTSS hypothesis pathologizes African Americans and is itself racist.

References

{{reflist 2005 non-fiction books Non-fiction books about American slavery Post-traumatic stress disorder Literature by African-American women Black studies publications Non-fiction books about racism

Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome

Reception

See also

References