Residential School Syndrome Case Study

Residential School Syndrome (RSS) was coined by psychiatrist Dr. Charles Brasfield, and it refers to a group of symptoms exhibited by some survivors of the Canadian residential school system. These schools operated in the early 1900s until the late 1990s, and Aboriginal children across Canada were forcibly removed from their homes to attend. The traumas that students at residential schools suffered ranged from being apart from their families to being physically or sexually abused. Brasfield’s diagnosis of Residential School Syndrome can be seen as both empowering and damaging for survivors of residential schools, and the entire Canadian Aboriginal population. The syndrome affirms the traumas students experienced at residential schools, and …show more content…
Rather than calling a survivor’s behaviours symptoms PTSD, to call them symptoms of RSS is to link them definitely and wholly to residential schools. This contradicts the narrative of blaming the victim; it places full responsibility on the residential school system. Some critique RSS as blaming the victim, but that is not the case. The name ‘Residential School Syndrome’ is inherently removing blame from the survivor and placing it on the schools. To acknowledge residential schools as a factor in destructive behaviours such as abuse in relationships and drug or alcohol use , is to remove some blame from the survivors. When otherwise, a survivor of residential school may have been blamed completely for these actions, the RSS diagnosis alleviates some accountability. This can be a positive or a negative process; being diagnosed with RSS should not completely absolve the actions of a person abusing their wife. Chrisjohn, Young and Maraun dismiss RSS partly because of this idea; while a person abusing their wife might be seen as blameless, they are also, contrarily, the “source of the problem.” However, if that person can receive therapy or any type of help based on their RSS diagnosis, then that diagnosis is a useful measure. Rather than identifying that person as the source of the problem, from the perspective of an RSS proponent, the traumas that that person experienced is identified as the source of …show more content…
Would it really benefit healing to be diagnosed by a medical professional with RSS? Labelling survivors with RSS could be damaging in terms of the stigma often attached to mental health conditions. For example, veterans with PTSD are sometimes seen as being violent towards others. However, they are more likely to be violent towards themselves. To contrast this, RSS is defined as a involving a “persistent tendency to abuse alcohol or other drugs that is particularly associated with violent outbursts of anger.” If people suffering from PTSD are seen as being violent, despite PTSD not being associated with violent behaviours, people suffering from RSS could be stigmatized for violent behaviours. Frideres argues that often, the Western health care system is not helpful to many Aboriginals seeking care, based on cultural barriers. Often, the health care system is not holistic and it is unemotional in its dealings with patients. Thus, diagnosing survivors with RSS could create a negative stigma about all Aboriginals. A report by the Health Council of Canada found that Aboriginal people in Canada face significant racism when seeking health care. For example, some patients needing painkillers for serious injuries were denied them so as not to fuel their presumed addictions. If these are the stereotypes that Aboriginal patients have to face when seeking