Trauma and its consequences for individuals, families, and communities shadows the daily lives of American Indians and Alaska Natives. Both the popular press and professional literature offer ample evidence to this effect. Consider the suicide epidemic on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming that claimed the lives of 9 Arapaho males in a brief 8 weeks (Bechtold, 1988); the revelation that a Bureau of Indian Affairs teacher-recently conferred a national teaching award-had, over a 9-year period, sexually abused more than 100 Hopi boys between 5 and 12 years of age; the Exxon Valdez oil spill and major disruption of economic, social, and psychological life among the Aleut inhabitants of Prince William Sound ( Palinkas, Downs, Petterson, & Russell, 1993); the widespread prevalence of alcohol abuse, often accompanied by tragic violence to spouses and children (Bachman, 1992); the seldom recognized costs of combat among Indian and Native Vietnam veterans for whom military service is a time-honored tradition (Working Group on American Indian Vietnam Veterans, 1992); and most recently, a life-threatening viral illness initially
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