Using the Biopsychosocial Framework to Address the Ongoing Impacts of the Indian Residential School System and Colonization in Canadian Health Care Systems

Abstract

Traumatic experiences during childhood can have significant, detrimental impacts on physical and mental health and negatively impact social functioning in adulthood. Such an understanding is imperative to providing adequate and well-informed health care to Indigenous populations residing on the land now called Canada. The Indian Residential School (IRS) system, which was in operation for over one hundred years, was one of the most violent colonial tactics implemented by Canada's federal government. This system was conceptualized to forcibly alienate Indigenous children from their families, communities, and culture to eradicate Indigenous culture and identity. Combined with witnessing violent acts perpetrated by colonizers against members of their community, the shared experience of being abducted from their families, and suffering physical, mental, emotional, and sexual abuse, led to widespread trauma amongst Indigenous people for generations. It is expected that such trauma has resulted in disruptions in attachment, social functioning and emotional development in individuals who survived the Indian Residential School system, thus potentially triggering a cascade of maladaptive, trauma-related behaviours through subsequent generations (termed intergenerational trauma). These writers recommend that healthcare providers consult a biopsychological framework when engaging with Indigenous individuals, especially Indian Residential School survivors and their relatives, as it emphasizes the multidirectional relationship between psychological, biological, and experiential factors implicated in an individual's well-being. Furthermore, such a framework may aid in contextualizing an individual's unique challenges within the broader scope of colonization.