TITLE:
From Collective Healing to Individual Diagnosis: Colonial Transformations of Trauma Care and a Postcolonial Approach to Build Connection
AUTHORS:
Wioletta Rebecka
KEYWORDS:
Colonization, Traditional Healing, PTSD, Research Gap, Decolonization
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.14 No.4,
April
30,
2026
ABSTRACT: Before the emergence of modern psychiatric trauma diagnoses, many societies developed collective systems for responding to the psychological and social consequences of violence, loss, and war. Across diverse Indigenous cultures—including Lakota communities in North America, Inuit societies in the Arctic, San communities of Southern Africa, and Aboriginal peoples in Australia—responses to suffering were historically embedded within communal rituals, kinship structures, spiritual practices, and relationships to land. Rather than conceptualizing trauma primarily as an individual psychological disorder, these traditions approached distress as a disturbance in relational, cultural, and ecological systems that required collective forms of restoration. This article presents a multilayered narrative review of interdisciplinary literature spanning anthropology, psychology, Indigenous studies, and transcultural psychiatry, examining traditional healing practices that address the consequences of violence, collective disruption, and historical trauma. While the Indigenous contexts discussed differ significantly in their historical trajectories, legal frameworks, and forms of colonial governance, the analysis identifies recurring structural mechanisms—including land dispossession, suppression of cultural and spiritual practices, forced assimilation, and institutional intervention—that have systematically reshaped Indigenous systems of care. From a decolonial perspective, these processes are understood not only as material and social disruptions but also as forms of epistemic violence that have marginalized, delegitimized, and, in some cases, actively erased Indigenous ways of knowing, healing, and meaning-making. By situating these dynamics across interconnected historical, cultural, relational, and epistemological levels, the review foregrounds how colonial power operates through both institutional structures and knowledge hierarchies, reconfiguring the conditions under which suffering is recognized and addressed. At the same time, it highlights the persistence, adaptation, and resurgence of Indigenous healing practices as forms of resistance, continuity, and epistemic reclamation, challenging the dominance of Western trauma frameworks and opening space for more relational, collective, and contextually grounded approaches to healing. The review analyzes how these community-based systems of trauma care were progressively transformed during colonial expansion through policies such as residential schooling, missionary intervention, and the institutionalization of Western psychiatric models. As colonial administrations and later global mental health frameworks expanded, trauma increasingly became conceptualized through individualized diagnostic categories, culminating in contemporary clinical constructs such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). While these frameworks have contributed significantly to clinical practice, their emphasis on individual symptomatology may not fully capture the collective, cultural, and historically embedded dimensions of suffering in colonized populations. By tracing these historical shifts, the article examines how the transition from communal healing systems to individualized diagnostic frameworks reshaped understandings of suffering and recovery. It argues that colonial disruption not only produced individual psychological harm but also reconfigured the broader social and cultural systems through which distress was understood and regulated. Within this context, approaches focused exclusively on individual trauma may be insufficient when detached from the relational, cultural, and political conditions that structure collective experiences of loss and identity disruption. The analysis highlights both the epistemic consequences of colonial interventions in Indigenous healing systems and the ongoing efforts in many communities to revitalize traditional approaches to trauma care. Understanding these transformations contributes to broader debates in trauma studies, transcultural psychiatry, and decolonizing mental health research, emphasizing the importance of culturally grounded and community-centered approaches in addressing the enduring impacts of violence and historical trauma. This narrative review follows a structured but non-systematic approach, aiming to synthesize interdisciplinary literature through transparent selection criteria while acknowledging its interpretive scope and the diversity of Indigenous experiences.