https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/5/110/206.full.pdf

The american psychological association.

Individualism and collectivism

Keywords: a Vocabulary of Culture and Society

1. Resolving Ethical Issues 1.01 Misuse of Psychologists’ Work 1.02 Conflicts Between Ethics and Law, Regulations, or Other Governing Legal Authority 1.03 Conflicts Between Ethics and Organizational Demands 1.04 Informal Resolution of Ethical Violations 1.05 Reporting Ethical Violations 1.06 Cooperating With Ethics Committees 1.07 Improper Complaints 1.08 Unfair Discrimination Against Complainants and Respondents

Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct

There is increasing concern that most current published research findings are false. The probability that a research claim is true may depend on study power and bias, the number of other studies on the same question, and, importantly, the ratio of true to no relationships among the relationships probed in each scientific field. In this framework, a research finding is less likely to be true when the studies conducted in a field are smaller; when effect sizes are smaller; when there is a greater number and lesser preselection of tested relationships; where there is greater flexibility in designs, definitions, outcomes, and analytical modes; when there is greater financial and other interest and prejudice; and when more teams are involved in a scientific field in chase of statistical significance. Simulations show that for most study designs and settings, it is more likely for a research claim to be false than true. Moreover, for many current scientific fields, claimed research findings may often be simply accurate measures of the prevailing bias. In this essay, I discuss the implications of these problems for the conduct and interpretation of research.

Why most published research findings are false

Recent years have seen the rise of historical trauma as a construct to describe the impact of colonization, cultural suppression, and historical oppression of Indigenous peoples in North America (e.g., Native Americans in the United States, Aboriginal peoples in Canada). The discourses of psychiatry and psychology contribute to the conflation of disparate forms of violence by emphasizing presumptively universal aspects of trauma response. Many proponents of this construct have made explicit analogies to the Holocaust as a way to understand the transgenerational effects of genocide. However, the social, cultural, and psychological contexts of the Holocaust and of post-colonial Indigenous “survivance” differ in many striking ways. Indeed, the comparison suggests that the persistent suffering of Indigenous peoples in the Americas reflects not so much past trauma as ongoing structural violence. The comparative study of genocide and other forms of massive, organized violence can do much to illuminate both common mechanisms and distinctive features, and trace the looping effects from political processes to individual experience and back again. The ethics and pragmatics of individual and collective healing, restitution, resilience, and recovery can be understood in terms of the self-vindicating loops between politics, structural violence, public discourse, and embodied experience.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1363461514536358

Rethinking Historical Trauma

As descendants of the indigenous peoples of the United States, American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) have experienced a resurgence in population and prospects since the beginning of the twentieth century. Today, tribally affiliated individuals number over two million, distributed across 565 federally recognized tribal communities and countless metropolitan and nonreservation rural areas. Although relatively little evidence is available, the existing data suggest that AI/AN adults and youth suffer a disproportionate burden of mental health problems compared with other Americans. Specifically, clear disparities have emerged for AI/AN substance abuse, posttraumatic stress, violence, and suicide. The rapid expansion of mental health services to AI/AN communities has, however, frequently preceded careful consideration of a variety of questions about critical components of such care, such as the service delivery structure itself, clinical treatment processes, and preventive and rehabilitative program evaluation. As a consequence, the mental health needs of these communities have easily outpaced and overwhelmed the federally funded agency designed to serve these populations, with the Indian Health Service remaining chronically understaffed and underfunded such that elimination of AI/AN mental health disparities is only a distant dream. Although research published during the past decade has substantially improved knowledge about AI/AN mental health problems, far fewer investigations have explored treatment efficacy and outcomes among these culturally diverse peoples. In addition to routine calls for greater clinical and research resources, however, AI/AN community members themselves are increasingly advocating for culturally alternative approaches and opportunities to address their mental health needs on their own terms.

/pdf/american-indian-and-alaska-native-mental-health-diverse-22aoqti9ej.pdf

American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health: Diverse Perspectives on Enduring Disparities

Indigenous "First Nations" communities have consistently associated their disproportionate rates of psychiatric distress with historical experiences of European colonization. This emphasis on the socio-psychological legacy of colonization within tribal communities has occasioned increasingly widespread consideration of what has been termed historical trauma within First Nations contexts. In contrast to personal experiences of a traumatic nature, the concept of historical trauma calls attention to the complex, collective, cumulative, and intergenerational psychosocial impacts that resulted from the depredations of past colonial subjugation. One oft-cited exemplar of this subjugation--particularly in Canada--is the Indian residential school. Such schools were overtly designed to "kill the Indian and save the man." This was institutionally achieved by sequestering First Nations children from family and community while forbidding participation in Native cultural practices in order to assimilate them into the lower strata of mainstream society. The case of a residential school "survivor" from an indigenous community treatment program on a Manitoba First Nations reserve is presented to illustrate the significance of participation in traditional cultural practices for therapeutic recovery from historical trauma. An indigenous rationale for the postulated efficacy of "culture as treatment" is explored with attention to plausible therapeutic mechanisms that might account for such recovery. To the degree that a return to indigenous tradition might benefit distressed First Nations clients, redressing the socio-psychological ravages of colonization in this manner seems a promising approach worthy of further research investigation.

/pdf/redressing-first-nations-historical-trauma-theorizing-3zijisjz3k.pdf

Redressing First Nations historical trauma: theorizing mechanisms for indigenous culture as mental health treatment.

Nineteen staff and clients in a Native American healing lodge were interviewed regarding the therapeutic approach used to address the legacy of Native American historical trauma. On the basis of thematic content analysis of interviews, 4 components of healing discourse emerged. First, clients were understood by their counselors to carry pain, leading to adult dysfunction, including substance abuse. Second, counselors believed that such pain must be confessed in order to purge its deleterious influence. Third, the cathartic expression of such pain was said by counselors to inaugurate lifelong habits of introspection and self-improvement. Finally, this healing journey entailed a reclamation of indigenous heritage, identity, and spirituality that program staff thought would neutralize the pathogenic effects of colonization. Consideration of this healing discourse suggests that one important way for psychologists to bridge evidence-based and culturally sensitive treatment paradigms is to partner with indigenous programs in the exploration of locally determined therapeutic outcomes for existing culturally sensitive interventions that are maximally responsive to community needs and interests.

/pdf/a-community-based-treatment-for-native-american-historical-wqpbwq6w11.pdf

A community-based treatment for Native American historical trauma: Prospects for evidence-based practice.

Because ethnoracial minorities are a growing part of the U.S. population yet are underrepresented in the psychopathology literature, we reviewed the evidence for differences in prevalence and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, and American Indians. With respect to prevalence, Latinos were most consistently found to have higher PTSD rates than their European American counterparts. Other groups also showed differences that were mostly explained by differences in trauma exposure. Many prevalence rates were varied by subgroup within the larger ethnoracial group, thereby limiting broad generalizations about group differences. Regarding service utilization, some studies of veterans found lower utilization among some minority groups, but community-based epidemiological studies following a traumatic event found no differences. Finally, in terms of treatment, the literature contained many recommendations for culturally sensitive interventions but little empirical evidence supporting or refuting such treatments. Taken together, the literature hints at many important sources of ethnoracial variation but raises more questions than it has answered. The article ends with recommendations to advance work in this important area.

/pdf/posttraumatic-stress-disorder-among-ethnoracial-minorities-2qs1d7i9uq.pdf

Joseph P. Gone

Papers

Rethinking Historical Trauma

American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health: Diverse Perspectives on Enduring Disparities

Redressing First Nations historical trauma: theorizing mechanisms for indigenous culture as mental health treatment.

A community-based treatment for Native American historical trauma: Prospects for evidence-based practice.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Ethnoracial Minorities in the United States