Mental health across the lifespan

Assignmeent 3. Helpful Tutorial Note.

I already shared with some of you my take on this assessment task;

It basically relates how trauma is inherited from the one generation to the next generation(s). So you have those who have experienced the trauma first-hand, but this trauma can be 'communicated' to the next generation(s) who could then experience it second- or third-hand. You can then also speak of 'vicarious trauma' (there is quite a lot of literature on this topic available, just do a quick search for 'vicarious experience' in Google Scholar and you will find a whoie wealth of publications). This can be communicated through the generations in a cultural sense (particular patterns and behaviours that children copy-paste from their parents, either consciously but [mostly] unconsciously), but also genetically (there is increasing evidence for that traumatic experience impacts on a person's genome; it could literatelly alter the composition of genes). From an Indigenous perspective, there is also the dimension of how trauma is communicated spiritually and could run through the 'spiritual family'.

In this assessment, while a learning outcome is to "Critique the influences and impacts of transgenerational trauma with a focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse populations", the task only asks for you to describe these effects with reference to Aboriginal and Torres Stait Islander populations. Having the focus on only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations should help out with that succinct word count. 

 A good paper to read is by Pat Dudgeon et al. Trauma in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population.