Racial trauma, also known as race-based traumatic stress, can be defined as:
A series of traumatic events that occur as a result of witnessing or experiencing racism and/or discrimination, interpersonally and/or institutionally, that can have a profound impact on the mental health of individuals exposed to these events. Racial trauma refers to the stressful impact or emotional pain of one’s experience with racism and discrimination that can manifest in mental and physical symptoms. It is important to note that racial trauma can also be compounded by intersectional identities, such as gender, disability, class, and sexual orientation. This can lead to long-term and intensified experiences of racial trauma symptoms, thus affecting one’s day-to-day functioning. Racial trauma is considered a chronic experience that often is presented acutely (in a specific, subjective, and isolated incident). Acute experiences of racial trauma have the tendency to create long-lasting, and, at times, later presenting, trauma symptoms.
We want to acknowledge that, while this is a very medical definition and current discourse around racial trauma is rooted in medicalization, racial trauma is NOT an individualized issue. In other words, racial trauma is not caused by personal deficit, pathology, weakness, abnormality, or biological/genetic predisposition. Racialized persons have historically been subjected to projects of eugenics, psychiatrization, and institutionalization that attempted to subjugate, oppress, marginalize, and commit violence against them, which were predominantly perpetrated by those in the medical or scientific field. This is further exacerbated by the realities of present-day medical racism that many racialized folks experience while attempting to access healthcare. Because of these ongoing histories, some racialized folks may be wary of medical practices, diagnoses, and treatments. With this in mind, we want to provide you with information about racial trauma to emphasize that it is a product of traumatic, violent, and oppressive contexts and is a socially conditioned experience. While some information on this page may resonate with you, some of it may not as each individual will have a unique experience of racial trauma or may not identify with it at all. Please engage with this information mindfully and intentionally.
Further Information
To further understand racial trauma and its impacts, we also have a link to a video that provides a detailed explanation of the proliferation of racial trauma in racialized communities.
It is important to note that racial trauma can still exist without the presence of all or some of these symptoms. The unfortunate reality is that most racialized folks are “born into” racism and racial trauma. Some folks experience racism from childhood and, as a result, begin to develop self-soothing or buffering tools that mediate the experience of symptoms. This often appears in ways such as dissociation, dismissing the event, refusal to speak on the event, pretending it did not occur, pushing through and disguising it as “okay," or actively assimilating as a protective factor. Symptomatic or not, racial trauma can begin to “seep” into other aspects of your life, consciously or unconsciously. You can feel the symptoms in a way that is ongoing and normalized in your life, or only when triggered by racist and discriminatory instances.
If you are questioning whether or not you may be experiencing racial trauma and how it can present in various aspects of your life, we invite you to check out the self-assessment questions and accompanying resources on this page. Please note that, while you may not be experiencing the symptoms described below acutely and or in a way that "debilitates" your day-to-day functioning, you can still be holding trauma within your body and mind despite having developed strategies to "cope" and move through the trauma.
Trauma Symptoms of Discrimination Scale
Williams, Printz, and Delapp (2018) assessed racial trauma in Black populations through the use of the Trauma Symtpoms of Discrimination Scale. From their work, they found this to be a useful self-assessment tool for gauging the symptoms, contributing factors, and range of emotions associated with repeated racist and discriminatory experiences. This tool can be used for all folks who identify as Black, racialized, and/or Indigenous. The effects of racial trauma can change day-to-day; some days you may feel it and other days you may not identify as being traumatized. Cyclically and consistently checking in with yourself can not only help understand where sources of racial trauma could be coming from but can also assist in you “tracking” its intensity and repetition. We invite you to use these 21 questions as a guide to understanding and identifying racial trauma and its potential effects in your life.
- Due to past and present experiences of discrimination, I often worry too much about different things
- Due to past and present experiences of discrimination, I often try hard not to think about it or go out of my way to avoid
- Due to past/present experiences of discrimination, I often fear embarrassment
- Due to past/present experiences of discrimination, I often feel nervous, anxious, or on edge, especially around certain people
- Due to past/present experiences of discrimination, I often feel afraid that something awful might happen
- Due to past/present experiences of discrimination, I often have nightmares about these experiences or think about it when I do not want to
- Due to past/present experiences of discrimination, I often have trouble relaxing
- Due to past/present experiences of discrimination, I often feel numb or detached from others, activities, or my surroundings
- Due to past/present experiences of discrimination, I often avoid certain activities in which I am the center of attention
- Due to past/present experiences of discrimination, I can not stop or control my worrying
- Due to past/present experiences of discrimination, I often find that being embarrassed or looking stupid is one of my worst fears
- Due to past/present experiences of discrimination, I often become easily annoyed and irritable
- Due to past/present experiences of discrimination, I often feel constantly on guard, watchful, or easily startled, especially around certain people or places
- Due to past/present experiences of discrimination, I often feel so restless that it is hard to sit still
- Due to past/present experiences of discrimination, I feel the world is an unsafe place
- Due to the past/present experiences of discrimination, in social situations, I feel a rush of intense discomfort and may feel my heart pounding, muscles tense up, or sweat
- Due to past/present experiences of discrimination, I feel isolated and set apart from others
- Due to past/present experiences of discrimination, I avoid certain situations or speaking to certain people
- If I think about past/present experiences of discrimination, I can not control my emotions
- Due to past/present experiences of discrimination, I am nervous in social situations and am afraid people will notice that I am sweating, blushing, or trembling
- Due to past/present experiences of discrimination, fear of social situations causes me a lot of problems in my daily functioning
These questions can be answered in a “scale-like fashion” (self-rating from 1-5) or in a yes/no format. The scale allows you to identify if you may be experiencing uncontrollable distress and hyperarousal, alienation from others, worries about safety and the future, and whether or not you may be on constant “guard."
If you scale highly or answer yes to the majority of these questions, we further invite you to explore our “How can you address it” tab for additional support. Please know that racial trauma does not have to be dealt with in isolation; a lot of your racialized peers are experiencing this, too. This tool is not to further ostracize or isolate your experiences and feelings but rather to allow pathways to self-reflection and actualization so movements can be made towards self-healing and social justice.
How to assess for racial trauma
The manifestation of racial trauma is quite complex; the unfortunate reality is that racial trauma can be initiated or triggered at any time in your life and anywhere, due to the frequency and “normalcy” of discriminative and racist practices and rhetoric. Under the guise of free speech and autonomy, you can experience racism and discrimination repeatedly from early childhood into adulthood, across multiple contexts in our social, work, academic, and personal lives.
This can occur:
- In the workplace
- In school
- In social interactions with white counterparts
- When alone or in groups engaging in daily tasks and general social settings
- At home
- Amongst your racialized peers
- When traveling within and outside of the country of origin
- Online, over the phone, and in other forms of electronic communication and interaction
- In media coverage and/or representation
- Systemically and institutionally in policies and procedures that you interact with
- Within yourself (internalized discrimination and racism)
However, these are only a few of many examples of “where” racial trauma may come from. These experiences can happen in isolated incidents or could be repeated experiences across various contexts, and they can begin to impact your daily functioning. Insights from racialized folks state that the most commonplace experiences of discrimination and racism that produce racial trauma are in the form of:
- microinsults and microaggressions,
- overt experiences of racism (such as witnessing or experiencing verbal and physical violence),
- invalidation of lived experiences (when your reality becomes questioned, invalidated, and dismissed), and/or
- experiences of exclusion and marginalization.
From these experiences, racial trauma may be presenting in several spheres of your life like:
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Assessing how racial trauma can affect several areas of your life can be through the self-rating tool provided above or through checking if you are experiencing any of the emotions mentioned in our “Defining Racial Trauma Section." Another useful assessment is checking in with peers or professionals, ideally of similar identity, that you feel comfortable speaking with. Having an open conversation around your experiences and feelings may allow for self-reflection and identification of where racial trauma and stress is coming from and how it is affecting you. We invite you to explore the next tab for a more in-depth description of the places and ways racial trauma can proliferate.