Transgenerational trauma
Transgenerational trauma, also known as intergenerational trauma, refers to the transmission of trauma effects from one generation to the next. This phenomenon can occur through both genetic changes and learned behaviors, impacting individuals and entire communities who have experienced collective trauma. Examples include groups such as African Americans and Holocaust survivors, who have shown indications of suffering from trauma passed down through generations. The impact of trauma can manifest emotionally, resulting in issues like anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as through behavioral patterns that complicate family dynamics.
Research suggests that experiences of trauma can lead to biological changes, specifically epigenetic modifications that affect stress-related genes. These changes may be inherited by offspring, even if they did not experience the original trauma directly. Additionally, parents who have faced trauma may struggle to model healthy coping mechanisms, inadvertently passing on maladaptive behaviors to their children. As a result, transgenerational trauma emphasizes the importance of understanding how historical and individual traumas continue to influence subsequent generations, highlighting the need for culturally sensitive approaches to healing within affected communities.
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Transgenerational trauma
Transgenerational trauma, also called intergenerational trauma, is trauma passed from one generation to the next through genetics and through experiences. This form of trauma can affect large groups of people who have experienced collective trauma. For example, African Americans and families of Holocaust survivors have been found to suffer from transgenerational trauma. Individual families can also experience transgenerational trauma. Scientific research and anecdotal evidence support the idea that trauma can be passed from parents to offspring.
Background
Trauma is an emotional response to a terrible situation, such as war or rape. Right after a terrible situation occurs, people may be too shocked to feel many emotions. Over time, however, they can experience trauma. They may experience a range of emotions, including deep sadness and anger, shame, decreased self-esteem, trust issues, and dissociation. They may also suffer from physical symptoms, such as headaches and nausea. In addition, people who experience trauma may have trauma-related mental disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Trauma victims can also have difficulty dealing with change and challenging life situations. Medical professionals can treat people who have experienced trauma and try to help them.
Sometimes, trauma can happen to an entire group of people. Social trauma and collective trauma are terms used to describe trauma that happens to groups rather than individuals. For instance, an accident that kills a group of students in a school might affect everyone in the school community. Historical trauma is trauma experienced by specific groups across generations. It can be caused by war, dislocation, poverty, and more. For example, the colonization of North America by Europeans resulted in trauma that affected various groups of American Indians and First Nations people for generations.
Overview
The idea of transgenerational trauma is that trauma can be passed from one generation to the next. Scientists believe transgenerational trauma occurs because of biological factors and other causes. Transgenerational trauma can occur in various situations. The trauma from singular events, such as the death of a child, can be passed on to future generations. Social trauma, which affects entire groups of people, can also be handed down. When professionals discuss and study transgenerational trauma, they often focus on social trauma, as they can study large groups of people, all of whom experienced similar traumas.
In a 1988 study published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, researchers Mario Mikulincer and Zahava Solomon presented findings about a group of Israeli soldiers. All the soldiers studied experienced PTSD. The researchers found that the soldiers whose families experienced losses during the Holocaust had more serious cases of PTSD that lasted longer. This indicated to the researchers that the parents' trauma during the Holocaust somehow made their offspring more prone to trauma-related mental disorders.
Anecdotal evidence also existed to support the idea that trauma can be passed on through the generations. Some children of Holocaust survivors, who had never had traumatic experiences themselves, experienced anxiety and other mental illnesses. Some of the people who experienced these disorders believed their health problems were related to their parents' experiences.
In 2015, a study yielded scientific evidence that supported the idea of transgenerational trauma being passed through genetics. In this study, a research team in New York led by Dr. Rachel Yehuda studied people who had survived the Holocaust and their offspring, who did not experience the Holocaust. The team found that the Holocaust survivors experienced an epigenetic change to genes related to stress. A chemical marker on a stress gene was changed because of the Holocaust survivors' traumatic experiences. The same epigenetic change was found in the offspring of the Holocaust survivors. This indicates that chemical changes that occur in the body because of stress can be passed to future generations through genetics. At the same time, researchers remained unsure about exactly how the epigenetic changes are passed from one generation to the next.
The genetic causes of transgenerational trauma have been noted in research studies. Other studies and anecdotal evidence have provided information about how trauma can be passed on to children through the actions of their parents. For example, parents who experience trauma may also experience anxiety or other trauma-related mental disorders. Because of these disorders, parents who experience trauma may have difficulty modeling appropriate coping behaviors for their children when problems arise. As a result, these parents may be teaching their offspring inappropriate coping behaviors. Furthermore, emotional ties between children and older generations can shape the children's worldview. Parents help their offspring identify which people and situations are seen as dangerous and which people and situations are seen as safe.
Transgenerational trauma can also affect individual families. For example, a parent who lived in the foster system and experienced the trauma of that system may pass on that trauma. The parent may model insecure behavior to their offspring. The parent may also have problems expressing love and other emotions. Their children might then face similar problems expressing emotions when they become adults. Additionally, parents who experience the loss of an infant before other offspring are conceived or born may pass on the trauma of that experience. Fewer studies have been conducted regarding the link between individual trauma and epigenetic changes. However, since all trauma is related, there is a chance that individual trauma can be passed genetically through the generations as well.
Countless groups and individuals have been affected by transgenerational trauma. Psychologists and other researchers have focused their research mostly on large groups with histories of social trauma. For example, Black Americans—a group with a history of trauma that continued into the twenty-first century due to the social conditions in the United States—have experienced transgenerational trauma that has been studied. Other groups that can experience transgenerational trauma include the families of Holocaust survivors, Indigenous peoples, immigrants, refugees, and people living in poverty. These groups have all experienced collective or historical trauma. In some of these groups, each generation experiences new trauma. However, this trauma is compounded by the trauma passed down through the generations. Other groups, such as the descendants of Holocaust survivors, may not experience specific social trauma, but the epigenetic changes due to the trauma of their ancestors can still be passed through the generations.
Bibliography
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