Attachment and Theoretical Orientation, Transgenerational Trauma, and Russian Doll

Thanks for sharing your experiences, Dani. Yeah, makes sense.

Psychology In Seattle

It was interesting hearing you guys talk about transgenerational trauma. I come from Romania, where it's pretty plain to see how the historical/political events in the recent past have affected the culture and the people within it. Moving to Canada was a big culture shock because everyone was so relaxed and trusting of government services (even if they do suck sometimes) and people actually heeded regulations. Romanians are generally pretty cynical and homelessness and alcoholism is seen pretty much anywhere in public. There was a collective attitude of noncompliance and mistrust between the people and the government, but also among the people, mainly about money and theft. A professor of mine recently raised the topic of issues with administering psychometric tests to Romanian immigrants because they would often be mistrusting of authority and would be secretive (as a result of the threat of being imprisoned or diagnosed as mentally ill if they spoke against the state). This made me think of many conflicts I have with my parents about health care, where my parents will often refuse to seek medical help because of their mistrust of doctors and thinking doctors are somehow conspiring against them. Over the years I have shifted from trusting my parents' home remedies (which are often quite unwise), to relying on the healthcare options available to me, without telling my parents anything. I still find it difficult to drop my general vigilance and mistrust of others based on my upbringing in Romania which simply doesn't fit with how people behave in Canada. It gets me into trouble from time to time.

To add another dimension of--racism--in Hawaii as you mentioned in one of your podcasts; school children had an annual "Kill Japanese Day" on December 7. You mentioned that white / light skinned students would be harassed or beaten on "Kill Haole Day". Because of the Hawaiian "Democratic Revolution" and unionizing of AJA plantation workers, some social activist such as Eiko and Karen Kosasa believe that Japanese in Hawaii assumed the white colonist power. The Kosas's (and others) conclude that images of Japanese as immigrant victims of the white colonizers must be erased and replaced by AJAs as colonizers. Because of the relative success of Americans of Japanese decent, there may be an underlying anti-Japanese-as-colonizers sentiment in the U.S.