Intergenerational Trauma: How Trauma Passes to a New Host
Many of us know how trauma can wreak havoc on an individual, causing anxiety, panic attacks, dissociation, and depression, as there is an ample amount of research about this subject. However, there is much less research and information regarding a more complex concept, known as intergenerational trauma.
Intergenerational trauma refers to trauma being passed on between generations—from your grandparent, to your parent, and then to you. Intergenerational trauma was first recognized among children of Holocaust survivors in 1966, when there was a surge of these children seeking mental health help in clinics in Canada (Fossion, Rejas, Servais, Pelc, Hirsch, 2003). Evidence of intergenerational trauma has also been documented among descendants of slaves, war survivors, refugees, and Native Americans.
When trauma goes untreated, it changes the way an individual forms attachments, how they communicate, and how they show affection. It also creates a higher stress response in situations that might not be considered stressful for an individual who has not been traumatized. Trauma can transmit to a child through a mother or father’s parenting style, parental warmth, family cohesion, and family involvement. Furthermore, it has been suggested that trauma survivors externalized their post‐traumatic symptoms through their nonverbal behaviors and unconscious reenactments of fear and grief. Thus, the child of a trauma survivor will end up having a traumatic response to their parent’s internalized and externalized traumatic symptoms (Weinberg & Cummins, 2013; Yehuda & Lehrner, 2018). This is not to say that a parent is at fault for passing trauma to their child, as the process happens unknowingly, as a result of trauma’s pervasive nature. Some might say trauma is akin to a disease, beginning in the individual’s psychological world, spreading to their physical body, their spirituality, and their relationships.
There is also some evidence to suggest that trauma can pass epigenetically, or in other words, through one’s genes. Studies have shown that the offspring of Holocaust survivors exhibited hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal (HPA) axis alterations associated with PTSD, such as lower cortisol levels and increased glucocorticoid receptor (GR) sensitivity (Yehuda & Lehrner, 2018). Additionally, “one study reported that children of mothers exposed to childhood trauma, particularly emotional abuse, had higher sympathetic nervous system activation, which might be a marker for vulnerability to anxiety, compared to children of mothers with low emotional abuse” (Yehuda & Lehrner, 2018). This tells us that trauma is not just “in your head.” It becomes trapped in the body and transforms it. It can alter one’s very nature and be passed on, if left untreated.
Intergenerational trauma is a controversial topic; however, we acknowledge that a person is more likely to suffer from mental illness if there is a history of it in the family, so why would it be any different with trauma? Is it because we don’t want to consider that a traumatic life event can impact an individual so greatly, that it’s damage can seep into every corner of the unconscious mind? Or do we struggle more to believe that it can change our biology, so much so, that these changes can become part of our DNA? It is a disturbing thought, but it’s necessary to accept it, so we may break the cycle.
References
Fossion, P., Rejas, M.-C., Servais, L., Pelc, I., & Hirsch, S. (2003). Family Approach with Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 57(4), 519–527.
Weinberg, M. K., & Cummins, R. A. (2013). Intergenerational Effects of the Holocaust: Subjective Well-Being in the Offspring of Survivors. Journal of Intergenerational Relationships, 11(2), 148–161.
Fossion, P., Rejas, M.-C., Servais, L., Pelc, I., & Hirsch, S. (2003). Family Approach with Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 57(4), 519–527.
