Joy DeGruy

Joy DeGruy (née Leary) is an author, academic, clinical psychologist, and public speaker who previously served as assistant professor at the Portland State University School of Social Work. She is current president and CEO of DeGruy Publications, Inc. She is most known for her book Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, originally published by UpTone Press in 2005. DeGruy and her research projects have featured in news and activist coverage of contemporary African-American social issues, in addition to public lectures and workshops on U.S. college campuses.[1][2]

Early life and education

DeGruy's family background is from the American south. She grew up in South Central, Los Angeles where she graduated from Crenshaw High School. She recommends the book "The Warmth of Other Suns" as a source of insight into her family.[3]

She holds a bachelor's of science in Communication, two master's degrees (in Social Work and Clinical Psychology), and a Ph.D. in Social Work and Social Research from Portland State University's Graduate School of Social Work.[4] Her doctoral dissertation, completed in 2001, studied predictive variables for African American Male Youth Violence using Sociocultural Theory, Social Learning Theory and Trauma Theory frameworks; she also employed the "new" theory of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, which would later become the subject of her 2005 book. Professor Eileen M. Brennan served as DeGruy's dissertation advisor.[5][6]

Research and publications

DeGruy's most famous work is undoubtedly her theorization of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome ("P.T.S.S."), which she describes as:

... a theory that explains the etiology of many of the adaptive survival behaviors in African American communities throughout the United States and the Diaspora. It is a condition that exists as a consequence of multigenerational oppression of Africans and their descendants resulting from centuries of chattel slavery. A form of slavery which was predicated on the belief that African Americans were inherently/genetically inferior to whites. This was then followed by institutionalized racism which continues to perpetuate injury.... Under such circumstances these are some of the predictable patterns of behavior that tend to occur: Vacant Esteem...Marked Propensity for Anger and Violence...Racist Socialization and (internalized racism)...[7]

In an interview for Essence Magazine, DeGruy summarizes: "research has shown that severe trauma can affect multiple generations ... no one has ever measured the impact that slavery had on us, what it’s meant for us to live for centuries in a hostile environment. We have been hurt, not just by the obvious physical assaults, but in deep psychological ways..."[8]

DeGruy's theorization is based on qualitative and quantitative research conducted by the author in both America and Africa.[7]

Critical reception

The New Republic described the theory as "original thinking" that "explains[s] the effects of unresolved trauma on the behaviors of blacks that is transmitted from generation to generation," and suggested that the theory can be historicized more broadly alongside "new emphasis" on trauma-informed care in social work writ large.[9] The California Institute of Integral studies has said P.T.S.S. "lays the groundwork for understanding how the past has influenced the present, and opens up the discussion of how we can use the strengths we have gained to heal."[10]

DeGruy's theory is not without controversy. P.T.S.S. has been criticized by scholars such as Ibram X. Kendi, who included it in his Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.[11][12] P.T.S.S. has also come under fire by politically conservative advocacy group The National Association of Scholars.[13] Among academics, critical engagement with P.T.S.S. formed the subject of subsequent doctoral dissertation work, which demonstrated that further research was needed to determine the theory's applicability.[14] Critics have suggested that as an alternative to "pathologizing" African Americans, "future research should focus on the mental illness of African Americans' oppressors."[14]

In addition to P.T.S.S. theory, DeGruy co-developed the African American Adolescent Respect Scale, to serve as a practical measure of prosocial attitudes held by male adolescents.[15] Other published work by DeGruy includes a chapter in Should America Pay? Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations, edited by Raymond Winbush.[16] She has participated in a wide array of public speaking engagements for non-profit organizations, colleges, and universities and has featured in publication lineups alongside the likes of Angela Davis.[3] She is represented as a public speaker by the national organization Speak Out: The Institute for Democratic Education and Culture.[17]

See also

References
  1. Butler, Alexis. "Dr. Joy DeGruy to Speak at ASU's BHM Closing Convocation | Alabama State University". www.alasu.edu. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  2. "Dr. Joy DeGruy to Speak at AUC Woodruff Library [News & Events]". Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center. 16 September 2014. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  3. "Revisiting Joy DeGruy: On Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome". CIIS Public Programs Podcast. San Francisco: California Institute of Integral Studies Department of Public Programs. 19 January 2018. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  4. News (3 February 2014). "Renowned Psychologist Joy DeGruy, Author of 'Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome,' to Present Black History Month Convocation - Carleton College". www.carleton.edu. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  5. Leary, Joy (2000-01-01). "A Dissertation on African American Male Youth Violence: "Trying to Kill the Part of You that Isn't Loved"". doi:10.15760/etd.5808. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. Leary, Joy (2001-01-01). "A Dissertation on African American Male Youth Violence: "Trying to Kill the Part of You that Isn't Loved"". Dissertations and Theses. doi:10.15760/etd.5808.
  7. "POST TRAUMATIC SLAVE SYNDROME". Dr. Joy DeGruy. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  8. "Breaking the Chains". Essence. 16 December 2009. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  9. Carten, Alma (2015-07-27). "How Slavery's Legacy Affects the Mental Health of Black Americans". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  10. "Deepening Our Understanding of Posttraumatic Slave Syndrome with Joy deGruy". www.ciis.edu. 9 May 2013. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  11. Kendi, Ibram X. (2016-06-21). "Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome is a Racist Idea". African American Intellectual History Society. Black Perspectives. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  12. Kendi, Ibram X. (2016). Stamped from the beginning : the definitive history of racist ideas in America. New York: Bold Type Books. pp. 491–2. ISBN 978-1-56858-463-8. OCLC 914195500.
  13. Wood, Peter (5 September 2014). "Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome". www.nas.org. National Association of Scholars. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  14. Hicks, Shari Renée (2015). "A critical analysis of post traumatic slave syndrome: A multigenerational legacy of slavery". search.proquest.com. Approved by Robert F. Morgan and Esther Nzewi (Committee Chair). ProQuest LLC. Retrieved 2021-01-31 – via California Institute of Integral Studies.
  15. Leary, Joy D.; Brennan, Eileen M.; Briggs, Harold E. (2016-08-19). "The African American Adolescent Respect Scale: A Measure of a Prosocial Attitude:". Research on Social Work Practice (published November 1, 2005). doi:10.1177/1049731505277717.
  16. Crawford, Jewel; Nobles, Wade W.; DeGruy Leary, Joy (2003). "Reparations and Health Care for African Americans: Repairing the Damage from the Legacy of Slavery". In Winbush, Raymond (ed.). Should America pay? : slavery and the raging debate on reparations. Winbush, Raymond A. (Raymond Arnold), 1948- (1st ed.). New York: Amistad. pp. 251–282. ISBN 0-06-008310-7. OCLC 50273007.CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  17. "DeGruy, Joy | SpeakOut". www.speakoutnow.org. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
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