Insights from Latine Therapists: Understanding Latine Trauma

Welcome back to the second part of the “Insights from Latine Therapists'' collaborative series. I’ve teamed up with two esteemed colleagues and friends, Stefanie Flores, LPC, LCADC and Sandy Morales, AMFT, both seasoned experts in trauma-informed therapy. Together, we’re delving into important topics and challenges within the Latine community. 

In today’s blog post, we explore a crucial topic, one that’s become quite a hot topic in recent years: trauma. I spoke with Sandy to discuss the meaning of trauma. Unfortunately, the term has often been misused to describe distressing experiences casually, often heard in phrases like, “OMG, that was so traumatic.” However, it’s essential to grasp the true meaning of the term to discuss it accurately and effectively.

Defining Trauma: Insights from a Seasoned Therapist, Sandy Morales

What’s up, Sandy! Thanks for joining me again. I’m interested to hear your perspective on this and what you’ve learned about trauma. I know you have a strong clinical background in trauma: from working with domestic violence survivors to sexual assault survivors to providing trauma-informed services to children and families who’ve faced violence. The term trauma is often misused, can you please define trauma for us?

That’s right! I have worked in the field of trauma for about 13 years now and you are absolutely right, the term trauma is used loosely. Trauma is defined as an event in which someone’s life or their bodily integrity is threatened. The same applies to children but also includes if their caregivers' life was threatened. See, children’s safety is attached to the safety of their caregiver. When that person’s life is threatened, children also feel threatened. Experiencing childhood trauma disrupts trust and emotional safety in relationships and can impact a child’s physical and emotional health as well as impact academic success. Hurtful messages can become deeply ingrained. Negative thoughts and feelings become persistent and self-defeating. Survival responses may show as defiance, resistance, disrespectful and aggressive behaviors. For others, they may withdraw, seem shy, anxious or live in a fantasy world. These effects can be long-lasting and may hinder the child’s ability to form healthy relationships and cope with stress in adulthood.

I love that you’re speaking to the importance of emotional safety between caregiver and child. I think that’s often overlooked, and what I notice clients doing is minimizing the impact of emotional trauma because it’s not physical or sexual in nature. I often encourage clients to hold space for everything that disrupted their sense of safety rather than minimizing or comparing themselves. Pain is relative. 

I’d like to hear more about how you’ve observed trauma showing up in children.

Let’s break it down a bit. After a traumatic experience, a child may have sleep difficulties, angry outbursts, changes in appetite and trouble concentrating. A child may complain about aches and pains (a.k.a. somatic complaints). A child may become hypervigilant; excessively worry, fearful and overreacting to loud noises or sudden movements. A child may become withdrawn; lose interest in friends, school or other activities they used to enjoy. They may become numb, showing no feelings or not bothered by anything. Over time, if left untreated, this can later result in health problems like obesity and substance use, mental health problems such as learning disabilities, depression, anxiety, and also cause behavioral problems such as dropping out from school, unstable employment, or deviant behavior.

Thank you for sharing. What’s one last thing you want people to know about trauma?

Most of us, including myself, experienced trauma in our childhood and our parents were probably resistant or uneducated about mental health services, so our symptoms were left untreated. As a child we did not have much of a choice, but as an adult, we can choose to heal our wounds from our past. Trauma healing includes finding safety, finding oneself, self-regulation, and of course, inner child healing. These may very well be things we searched for or needed as children who experienced trauma, or as teens with unaddressed trauma. Sure, some will say, “Well I turned out fine,” yet use food or substances to cope, can’t sleep, have dysfunctional relationships and dissociate. It’s never too late. Make yourself a priority.

Trauma in the Latine Community: Recent Research Findings

A key insight from my conversation with Sandy is that trauma encompasses serious events that can profoundly impact both the psyche and body. It extends beyond physical or sexual violence to include experiences like growing up in poverty or in a dysfunctional household. 

I did some digging into recent research on trauma within the Latine community. The findings both shocked and saddened me. A study published by Salud America! found that 77.8% of Latino youth are more likely than their peers to experience “adverse childhood experiences.” This statistic is deeply concerning and underscores the urgent need for attention and support in addressing trauma within the Latine community. 

If you’re interested in learning more about their findings, I recommend watching this 3 minute video recap: The State of Latino Early Childhood Development. Shoutout to Salud America!, led by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, for their commendable efforts in this field. I actually had the privilege of participating in their Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program at UT Health San Antonio back in the summer of 2016, an experience that greatly enriched my understanding of health disparities within the Latine community. For those interested in learning more about them and their impactful work, I encourage you to visit their website here. 

Immigrant Family Dynamics: Insights from Therapist Stefanie Flores

Stef, welcome back! Happy to have you join us again. So many of us identify as first-generation and have very similar experiences that weave a common thread among us. What are some things you’ve observed in your practice as it relates to growing up with immigrant parents?

For reference, most of my clinical examples come from first-gen Latinx/e and cisgender women who live in the U.S. The level of differences in work ethic, family values, spiritual expression and sense of self is astonishing between immigrants and first-generation millennials. For many immigrant families self-care is seen as a luxury, bearing children is a must, and our only best friends are blood related. In my experience, it seems like a 50 year generational difference between millennials and immigrant parents and families. When millennials share their views, emotions and personal goals with their families, it can be met with resistance and harsh judgment. 

I agree. The gap can be astonishing, more specifically for the first-generation millennials who choose to prioritize their mental health and break generational cycles. Say more about what you’ve observed about the Latine immigrant family dynamic and experience?

For any child, emotional regulation and expression are learned at home and school. When immigrant parents are working double shifts, split shifts and weekends, there is no time for emotional connection. Many clients have told me they have never seen their moms cry or say sorry. Saying sorry to kids came in the form of, “I made you some food.” The systems that hold parents back like low pay, language differences, etc. unfortunately don’t allow many parents to be at their best. This results in unmet needs and a multitude of unanswered questions from their kids and teens. 

It always chokes me up a bit to think about how our parents accomplished so much, and had tremendous courage to do what they did, all with limited resources. And it also chokes me up to think about how, due to these very experiences and challenges, they didn’t have the capacity to provide us with the emotional nurture we needed. In recent years, we’ve been hearing a lot about generational trauma. Can you speak to it?

If you ask how this connects with generational trauma, let’s look at one definition of trauma. Trauma occurs when an event or sequence of events causes you to feel differently about yourself. If these families were unable to set an example for self-care, how to have supportive connections outside the family or how to safely express emotions, a child is likely to question themselves and their worth. If this cycle has repeated throughout generations, it can result in generational trauma. I have recommended the animated film “Coco” to clients to demonstrate how a long-held belief gets passed through generations. 

Okay, but “Coco” had me sobbing when I first watched it in theaters! It definitely hit a tender spot for me, and I’m sure, many of us. What are you noticing your first-gen clients focusing on in therapy? What’s important to them?

Many first-gen clients have been focusing on learning about boundaries, improving self-care, learning how to have healthy relationships and ways to manage anxiety. It’s common for first-gen folks and millennials to discuss “breaking family cycles” of abuse, addiction and poor boundaries. First-gen cis-gender women seem to be concerned about changing gender roles in their relationships and “doing things differently than mom.” 

Generational Trauma in Latine Families: Understanding the Impact

My conversation with Stef highlights a major focus in my practice: supporting adult children of immigrant parents in therapy to break generational cycles. Many Latine clients come in wanting to prioritize healing their trauma in therapy, or through other holistic practices like curanderismo, hierberas, and spiritualists. 

Generational trauma is defined as the “emotional and psychological wounding that is transmitted across generations,” particularly affects Latines due to legacies of colonialism, political violence, and migration-related stressors (Cerdeña, Rivera, & Spak, 2021). While acknowledging the factors influencing generational trauma is crucial, I aim to briefly explore its manifestations within relationships, including the one with ourselves. The question is: How does the trauma of one generation affect the well-being of younger generations? Generational trauma can surface in various ways, including:

• Lacking a strong sense of self

• Low self-worth

• Enmeshment: a lack of emotional independence in a relationship

• Codependency: an unhealthy reliance on another person

• Hypervigilance: a heightened state of watchfulness

• Domestic violence, sexual, physical or emotional abuse

• Difficulty trusting others

• Anxiety, depression, etc. 

• Lack of boundaries

• Trauma bonding: an unhealthy attachment to someone who causes harm

• Emotional detachment from self and others

If you resonate with these experiences, you are not alone, and we encourage you to consider seeking support. Therapy is one option, but there are other options as well. Do what feels right for you. Breaking the cycle of generational trauma is a topic deserving of its own blog post so I won’t focus on that here. However, raising awareness to initiate change in unhelpful patterns is the crucial first step. Stay tuned for practical, tangible strategies aimed at addressing and healing generational trauma–a vital step toward honoring humanity and preserving a healthy legacy.

Thank you for reading this far! Don’t forget to check out Sandy’s insightful reels on her Instagram page here. If you’re in Nevada and seeking a therapist, Stefanie is currently accepting clients; you can contact her here. For those in California, Colorado, or Texas interested in scheduling an introductory call with me, don’t hesitate to reach out. 

Stay tuned for next month’s blog, where we’ll delve into the topic of healthy relationships. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any thoughts or questions!