My Early Experiences With Trauma

Microaggressions have been further generalized under a category of racism identified as aversive racism, where discriminating parties tend to find security by associating with those similar to them, thus marginalizing other parties. While working with his colleagues, Sue further categorized microaggressions into three different divisions: microassaults, microinsult, and microinvalidation. This further categorization has let those guilty of using microaggressions how they have the negative effect that they do.

Microaggression is a form of negative communication in which the speaker is targeting a certain group of people. This could be the female gender, people of a different race, or lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender (LGBTs). The speakers behave, talk, or act in manners belittling others. For example, when men whistle or laugh as a woman passes by, they are insinuating that the body of that woman is used to give them entertainment. Similarly, an indigenous American who tells a customer not to ‘Jew’ intends to communicate that the customer should not behave stingily as Jews do. Although this form of behavior is seen as a pure form of an act of hatred, psychologists believe that there is a connection between personality and microaggressions. It is a mental condition reflecting how the perpetrators view the world in four ways; dominance/inferiority,

What is the impact of historical trauma on a particular client population? How can Trauma Informed principals be used to reduce the impact of historical trauma on specific clients?

This paper serves as a personal reflection of the implication of racial microaggressions in daily life. Three journal articles and a book chapter are explored in an effort to obtain a greater understanding of the effects of racial microaggressions experienced by people of color and to bring light to how often racial microaggressions are committed by White Americans without notice or accompanied by attempts to explain away the offenses. The sources used provide examples of obvious acts of discrimination as well as subtle microaggressions which are often unconsciously or naively perpetrated and go on to offer recommendations for professional counselors in order to both provide a framework for helping clients of color to cope with encounters of microaggressions and highlight the need of awareness of possible racial microaggressions present during counselor-client interactions which may result in negative impacts on the therapeutic process. Racial microaggressions are broken down into subcategories of microassaults, microinsults, and microinvalidations, providing a deeper explanation of my own experiences with such discriminatory actions. This ultimately leads to a decision of continuation of training with a necessary focus on increasing mindfulness and field experiences in respect to the subject of racial microaggressive behaviors and attitudes.

Microaggressions manifest in many ways such as, “You’re lucky that you're black”, “Don’t you wish you were white”, and “What are you”. These comments can be very insulting to a person. “Don’t you wish you were white” can be very insulting to an African American or Hispanic person. In other words, this example illustrates that the colored person is viewed down upon since they are not white. An African American is viewed down because they were slaves and since they are not white, whites are seen as rich and powerful. Sometimes a simple insult like, “You’re smart,” can offend a person without you knowing it. When someone says, “You’re smart,” people can start questioning themselves about their abilities and intelligence, but there is a way to respond.

An example of a microassault would be intentionally serving a Caucasian family at a restaurant first before serving an African American family (Neville, Spanierman, & Lewis, 2012). Microinsults are depicted by communications that express insensitivity and rudeness. They also disgrace an individual’s racial heritage. Microinsults comprise of insensitive comments that are made on the basis of a range of racial assumptions about citizenship, intelligence, criminality, and cultural values and aesthetics. While microinsults are subtle insults that are unknown to the perpetrator, they communicate a hidden insulting message to the recipient. The context of what is communicated is very important. Microinsults can be communicated nonverbally. An example of a microinsult would be when an employee asking a coworker of color how they got their job, suggesting that they only got the job because they needed a minority in the group (Neville, Spanierman, & Lewis, 2012). The last form of microaggressions, microinvalidation are communications that negate or minimize the racialized experiences of people of

They can tend to convey rudeness and insensitivity. Even the most well intentioned person can let out some sort of microaggression, being unaware that their conduct was harmful. Unfortunately a lot of microagression is conscious in the intention to oppress people not similar to them. Microassaults are intentional aggressive actions that involve race such as denying ones children to date someone of a different race. Lastly there is microinvalidation, where one excludes a persons thoughts or feelings, such as colorblindness, to the disregard of the characteristics of race. The process of microgression is order of five phases. Phase one, the incident, is where the participant experiences the situation. Phase two, the perception is when the participant has the belief whether the situation was racial or not. Phase three, the reaction, is where they respond to the situation. Then there is phase four where the participant interprets the meaning. Lastly is phase five, consequence, where behavior or thought processes happen over time as an outcome of the situation.

Justin Simien once said, "Unfortunately 'post racism ' is also a myth, like unicorns and black people who survives to the end of horror movies." In other words post racism doesn't exist when white people and those of privilege can sit on the backs of hard working Americans especially of color. Where microaggressions such as micro-insult and microinvalidation still occurs at extreme rates especially in educational settings. Young children of color are exposed to high rates of microinvalidation without seeing any forms of it slowing down or stopping. Whether their teacher doesn't think they are smart enough or kids picking at the child because the color of their skin or accent. Students who have never dealt with the "other" tend to pick up their prejudice behavior from their parents and teachers surrounding them, creating a cycle for each generation. Microaggressions has unfortunately shaped my everyday life through the systemic educational system that reinforces white privilege, as well as, male dominance.

I have read and fully understand the article Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life: the Implications for Clinical Practice. However, I must admit the article does not sit well with me and I have learned I have been a microaggressor since my early days; specifically, I have offered microinsults many times over without even realizing it. Through the years, I have thought of myself as one who consciously believes in equal rights for “all”; not just the American people, but people of all races across the entire globe. Granted, I have never

For instance, the meaning of racial microaggression is brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults towards people of

Microaggressions are committed constantly, among numerous people without them realizing it. I must say I am completely guilty of also playing part in this act. These acts are done constantly and no one understands the affects it has on people. Miller and Garran (2008) states, “Racial microaggressions are similar to aversive racism. They are “subtle, stunning, often automatic,” verbal and nonverbal putdowns and social assaults that wound people of color unbeknownst to the perpetrator” (p.97). This is what produces pain and anger inside countless of people. Many individuals need professional help in order to surpass the neglect they have been summited to.

You may not know any bigots, you think “I don’t hate black people, so I’m not racist”, but you benefit from racism. There are certain privileges and opportunities you have that you do not even realize because you have not been deprived in certain ways. Racism, institutional and otherwise, does not always manifest itself in a way that makes it readily identifiable to onlookers, victims, or perpetrators; it is not always the outward aggression typically associated with being a hate crime. Racial microaggressions are a type of perceived racism. They are more subtle and ambiguous than the more hostile or overt expressions of racism, such as racial discrimination (CITE). Microaggressions are everyday verbal, visual, or environmental

Debbie had many risk factors involved in her childhood and as she continued to grow up. One risk factor that had impacted her childhood family is that of social acceptance of violence. Debbie’s parents were not only accepting of the violence between their children but they were also promoting it. These violent views and values put Debbie at risk for child maltreatment and abuse as well as social and emotional issues as an adult. Debbie was in a higher risk of maltreatment being the youngest girl then that of her brothers and older sister.

Your introduction is very engaging and emphasizes the important role of communication after experiencing trauma. I believe your topic is very relatable because there is a sense of denial, seclusion, and dissociation that correlates with trauma and loss that many of us have experienced. Open communication within a family unit provides opportunities to express thoughts and feelings and develop appropriate coping strategies (Zambianchi & Bitti, 2014). In your intro you stated, "The impact childhood trauma has on our society and on children." As a suggestion, maybe you could expand on this statement or state specific impacts childhood trauma has on our society or on children. I love your examples of evidenced based interventions and how

A key term to understanding implicit forms of racism comes from the term microaggression. According to Dareld Wing Su, racial microaggression can be defined as “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, and environmental hostilities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights or insults to the target person or group” (Sue, et al. 273). This definition of microaggression demonstrates the