Racism, Trauma and Positive Aspects of Exposure to Race-Related Experiences

Abstract

ABSTRACT Ex po sure to race-re lated ex pe ri ences, such as race-hate as sault and dis crim i nation, are not rou tinely and sys tern at i cally ad dressed in as sess ment and treat ment in ter ventions or in so cial work prac tice formulations. A psychodynamic, ethnocultural, and strengths-ori ented conceptual framework is presented to describe exposure to stressful, traumatic, and positive race-re lated experiences. Criteria are identified for con ducting an in quiry about race-re lated ex pe ri ences to help as sess pos-si ble en vi ron men tal stress ors re lated to pre senting symp toms of Adjustment, Acute Stress or Post-Trau matic Stress Dis or ders. Also, there is an identification of obstacles and factors to consider when in ter viewing about ex po sure to race-re lated ex pe ri ences, and aspe cific in ter view format to guide sys tern atic in quiry about such ex po sure. Finally, sa lient im pli cations for as sess ment, treat ment and re search are de scribed.