* Perpetration Induced Traumatic Stress (PITS). PITS, observed and coined by Rachel MacNair, PhD past president elect of The Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence, refers to the traumatic effects on the perpetrators who are following orders to commit these acts of social "violence," including the law enforcement officers hearing the screams of parents and children as they carry out their inhumane orders.
* Societal Consequences. People escaping a life of danger, fear, and poverty, who would likely become grateful, loyal, and patriotic residents and contributing members of society, are betrayed. In addition to trauma they must feel profound resentment, as do we. Furthermore, justifying these cruel policies continues to fuel the most mean-spirited elements of our culture that dehumanize immigrants and creates a social norm in which authorities deem it acceptable to punish and traumatize innocent people because "the law is the law," it's their fault for coming, and that it is legitimate to harm people to deter others. Furthermore, it is unlikely to deter people fleeing from threats to their lives. In addition to being cruel, these policies are poorly informed. This is a stain on the soul of America.
* Unconscious Historical Legacy. Psychologist Jeffrey Jay, Ph.D. points out that separating children from families has been a dark part of American history. He states that "slavery was legalized by the government and made possible by the connivance of institutional and individual by-standers." He quotes Frederick Douglas: "the practice of separating children from their mothers" is a marked feature of the cruelty and barbarity of the slave system"But it is in harmony with the grand aim of slavery, which, always and everywhere, is to reduce man to a level with the brute"It is a successful method of obliterating from the mind and heart of the slave, all just ideas of the sacredness of the family, as an institution."
We have not faced our original sins of genocide on the Native American people or our and the enslavement of Black people and continue to unnecessarily perpetuate trauma.
Maya Angelou said, "History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."
* Punimania is a diagnostic term coined by me (Diane Perlman). This compulsion to punish is pathological and deserves an accurate diagnosis. Punimania refers to the mindless pathological compulsion to punish when the punishment (1) does not address the cause of the problem, (2) does not correct the problem, (3) causes suffering of innocent people over time and space, and the punisher as well, and (4) causes harm to the fabric and collective psyche of society.
* Our Obligation to treat to heal. Although these divided families are deeply scarred by this trauma, studies of trauma survivors show that appropriate, effective treatments, including techniques of detraumatization by qualified, compassionate, ethical professionals can help reduce the severity of lifelong symptoms and consequences to those who have been traumatized, thus reducing the intergenerational transmission of trauma. The first step is immediate reunion and the provision of safety, stability, and basic human needs. In addition to individual, family, and group therapy, collective healing will be supported by public recognition of this trauma, bearing witness, apology, some form of restitution, emotional support and engagement in community life, and a variation of "truth and reconciliation" processes.
30 years ago, when George H. W. Bush accepted the presidential nomination he called upon us to become a "kinder, gentler nation." For all of our sake, let us take heed.
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