International Journal of Communal and Transgenerational Trauma

C0-Editors:  Steve Olweean and Myron Eshowsky

An interdisciplinary and peer-reviewed journal of Common Bond Institute (CBI) and the International Humanistic Psychology Association (IHPA).

It is a virtual, open-access, and free publication, drawing from a number of interrelated fields reflecting a whole-person, cross-cultural perspective and exploration of the psycho-emotional trauma experience, from the individual to the communal level. As such, it gathers and disseminates a diversity of content and format delving into the dynamics and multidimensional aspects and intersections of trauma, and the process of unresolved profound trauma extending into future generations as transgenerational trauma.

The journal’s mission is to inform, raise awareness among the professional and lay public, stimulate new thought and inquiry, invite cooperation and combined knowledge, promote the development and practical application of effective, culturally sensitive models and methods for prevention and healing, and inform public policy makers of communal and transgenerational trauma.

IJCTT pursues a comprehensive approach to exploring the full range of human experience of trauma, including the reciprocal relationship between the individual and communal, and to promote a wide-angle perspective historically, anthropologically, globally, and at all levels of society, of both variety within this experience and universals consistent to all.

It is a free access publication with links to related events, programs, and initiatives, including the Annual International Conference on Transgenerational Trauma, as well as additional journal features that include a global networking and collaboration registry and a virtual resource library.

Advancing a whole-person approach to reflect the multifaceted nature of the trauma experience, and geared to both the professional and lay reader for the most accessibility to the widest readership, content includes a unique blend of:

• Scholarly articles on research, theory, practical application, and policy
• Professional and philosophical perspectives
• Reviews of publications, media, and programs
• Personal perspectives
• Poetry, Spoken Word, Lyrics, and Short prose
• Art, Photography, and Graphics
• Multimedia (audio and/or video)

Transgenerational Trauma is an underlying and complex global syndrome that divides, polarizes, and perpetuates enemy images, has been a central basis for past conflict and wars, and is a potent fuel for the eruption of violence in the present and future. Understanding it’s history, dynamics, and implications, and developing ways to effectively prevent and treat it, are essential to healing and reconciliation within and between communities, establishing compassionate local and global relations, and achieving sustainable peace. 

Profound psychological and emotional injuries may be the most enduring effects of war and violence, yet historically, they are the least addressed in rebuilding a community or society and preventing future violence within and between communities. Large-scale recovery efforts commonly focus on more visible needs of food, shelter, clothing, physical health, security, and economic aid. However, effects of deep psychological trauma on individuals, families, and ultimately their communities are typically neglected, minimized, and seldom resolved. This invariably leads to transgenerational trauma becoming imbedded as part of the psyche of a society, extending wounds into future generations where they too often play out in dysfunctional behavior, further violence, and the creation of new victims. In this way the cycle of violence and the cycle of trauma directly contribute to each other.

Treating large civilian populations experiencing catastrophic psychological trauma pervasive at all levels of a society due to war and violence poses unique challenges not typically focused on in the therapeutic literature or conventional clinical practice, where historical applications are with individuals or small groups. As a result, the lack of action has been primarily due to a lack of workable models and methodologies in the field of mental health for undertaking such an immense, long-term task of treating at the large scale, community level, and particularly where the local human service infrastructure is significantly lacking or compromised.