“I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that. So are we all.” -James Baldwin
Trauma is defined as a distressing or disturbing experience resulting in an emotional response. This can include violence in your community such as a crime, a sudden, violent death of someone you know, physical or sexual abuse, or a natural disaster. When the response is serious enough to warrant a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the symptoms can include recurring, upsetting memories of the event itself, dreams or nightmares about the trauma or avoiding reminders of the trauma. Trauma can impact a person’s level of functioning and risk for ongoing mental health problems such as depression and anxiety. Research now indicates it can also go beyond the individual sufferer to impact the next generation through what’s known as transgenerational trauma.
Beginning with studies of the descendants of survivors of the Holocaust, clinicians began to be aware of how the children of traumatized parents were seeking mental health treatment despite being removed from their parents’ experiences. Over the past century, many more examples of the destructive effects of catastrophic events such as war, genocide, and terrorism impacting cultures all over the world support the idea of transgenerational – or intergenerational – transmission of trauma through both conscious and unconscious means by the original trauma survivors. Examples include the high rates of Cambodian refugees diagnosed with PTSD, the degree of mental illness in Northern Ireland related to “the Troubles” and higher rates of suicide in Vietnam veterans from Australia. In the United States, the lasting legacy of colonialism, slavery and economic exploitation on Native Americans, African Americans and Latinos have also been identified as contributing to transgenerational trauma.
Now there is mounting evidence of the role of biology in passing along trauma. A study from Nature Neuroscience founds that stress had an impact on “epigenetic markers” – changes caused by a modification of gene expression instead of a change to the genetic code itself. In this study, mice who were exposed to trauma earlier in life later displayed behaviors consistent with depression as well as impaired metabolism. The symptoms were then passed on, not through genetics but through the father’s sperm. Such findings are already beginning to have an impact on services as with a program in a hospital in Atlanta where trauma victims in the ER who tested positive for genes associated with PTSD received psychotherapy which lead to the development of fewer symptoms.
Science has helped us understand how concerns such as depression and anxiety can be passed on. Transgenerational trauma reminds us of the importance of thinking about family and cultural history when seeking support and treatment for the effects of trauma.
When you think of issues that you’re dealing with, which do you find has more of an impact – your family background or your surroundings?
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2 comments
I think that they are both equally impactful. Many people I speak to find that their family background and generational experiences affect their current life just as much as their present environmental factors. I think that the way we deal with our current situations and surroundings is often shaped by our family culture and experiences.
I wonder if people who live closer to their family find that the issues they deal with on a daily basis are more impacted by family background versus people who have removed themselves physically from their family?
That’s a great point Nikki about how proximity can affect ongoing stress. Sometimes putting that physical boundary of distance can help a person to be less impacted by family history. Although we all take a little bit of home with us wherever we go, so it helps to figure out how we stay in past experiences even from a distance.