Being/Feeling Uprooted – Effects and Consequences

Being uprooted in childhood leaves a lasting effect, impeding a child’s and later an adult’s ability to feel a sense of belonging, of having roots.

The Search Begins by Pauline McLeod
The Search Begins by Pauline McLeod

As the example of extensive research into the effects and consequences of uprootedness on the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal children in Australia shows, being uprooted can generate:

  • Low self esteem and feelings of worthlessness
  • Loss of identity
  • Loneliness
  • Mistrusting everyone
  • Deep distrust of government
  • Internal guilt
  • Violence (domestic or intrinsic, sometimes leading to suicide)
  • Inability to bond with one’s own family (having met them/having had the reunion later in life)
  • Difficulties parenting (having absence of positive role models)
  • Depression; substance or alcohol use
  • Lower life expectancy
  • Intergenerational traumas (occurs when the effects of trauma are passed down between generations)