Intergenerational trauma is the emotional baggage our ancestors accidentally packed for us. It’s like opening a family heirloom only to find it’s filled with unresolved pain and memories you didn’t even experience, and most importantly, you didn’t ask for.
However, just because it’s been passed down for generations doesn’t mean it’s your responsibility to keep carrying it. This article is going to talk about what intergenerational trauma really means and, more importantly, how to break the cycle.
KEY POINTS
- Intergenerational trauma occurs when the trauma of an earlier generation gets passed down through the family.
- Studying family history can provide clues to the source of intergenerational trauma.
- More studies are coming forth to help individuals cope with intergenerational trauma.
Intergenerational trauma is a theory that trauma experienced by one person in a family can be passed down to future generations.
Sometimes called historical trauma or multigenerational trauma, it can be experienced by certain cultural, racial, or ethnic groups, and could result in emotional or behavioral reactions.
The fact is that when you are a child of someone who has experienced tremendous trauma, those memories can become yours.
While some individuals might not be victims of intergenerational trauma, others might experience signs such as clinical depression accompanied by low self-esteem, feelings of vulnerability, unexplained anxiety, aggressive behavior/irritability, difficulty concentrating, substance abuse, relationship issues, frequent nightmares, suicidal tendencies, and/or physical and psychological illnesses.
In my new book, Hummingbird: Messages from My Ancestors (2024), I discuss how my grandmother survived World War I and my father survived World War II. The trauma they lived through was passed on to their offspring and has manifested in numerous ways.
Related: Intergenerational Trauma: Can We Inherit Trauma?
For example, my grandmother was orphaned at the age of 11 during World War I, and the pain of that stayed with her until she died. Not only did she end up taking her life when she was in her 60s, but her daughter, my mother, battled depression her entire life.
My family never spoke of their traumas, but I have often dreamt about them—which signals that their trauma is living somewhere inside of me.
In her 2001 study, neuroscientist and trauma expert Rachel Yehuda found that adult offspring of Holocaust survivors showed significantly higher levels of self-reported child trauma than demographically similar comparison subjects.
Yehuda’s claim is that this is because the offspring of Holocaust survivors exhibit signs of PTSD. The study also concluded that Holocaust survivors might minimize PTSD-related challenges encountered by their offspring because they compare it to their own suffering.
Many studies are emerging on the significance of epigenetics—how behavior and environment can alter the way one’s genes work—“and we now know that there’s a connection between preconception parental trauma and epigenetic alterations that are present both in the parent and in their children.” (Raab, 2024)
Stephanie Foo, a former producer for This American Life and author of the memoir What My Bones Know (2022), confesses she has had panic attacks behind her closed office door.
In her memoir, Foo examines how she was abandoned by her parents after years of abuse, and how, after achieving success, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD, a set of symptoms related to a series of traumatic events that occur over the course of many years.
Through her own research on immigrants (she was born in Malaysia and is of Asian heritage), Foo shares how trauma can be inherited through generations.
From her experience, she tells us that we don’t move on from trauma, but we can learn to move with it gracefully.
Spiel et al. (2023) found that there is increased incidence of psychopathology when parental trauma is present. This might result in unhealthy dependency and dysfunctional attachment.
The researchers conclude that parental trauma has a negative impact on future generations’ interpersonal dependency by fostering a tendency to distance from close relationships.
Dealing With Intergenerational Trauma
Studies have shown that as much as 75 percent of children experience some form of stressful life event before the age of 9. These adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can sometimes lead to negative long-term outcomes (Kelly, 2019).
Support groups can help both parents and children in these situations of adversity and provide skills and tools to help them cope. One key element is for the parent to remember to “see the child” (Burke, 2021), listen to them, and hear what they are saying rather than not validating their feelings.
Foor (2017), for example, suggests we teach children to name and recognize physical sensations just like we teach them history or English. For example, when their chest tightens it probably means they’re nervous.
During the course of our lives, difficult moments from our childhoods or events suffered by our ancestors can trigger us unexpectedly.
Often we won’t even realize the root of the trigger until we examine our past experiences and hear the stories of previous generations. Each situation comes with its own story and should be handled on a case by case basis.
Related: The Lingering Legacy: Examining The Realness Of Intergenerational Trauma
Some Helpful Strategies
- Learn about your family’s history and trauma experiences.
- Engage in self-care activities.
- Manage stress or anger that might be tied to your family history.
- Journal your feelings.
- Engage in a daily meditation practice.
- Connect with familial/cultural beliefs to deal with grief.
- Seek the assistance of a trained therapist.
- Build a support network.
- Have compassion for yourself and others.
References:
Burke, J., Fitzhenry, M., Houghton, S., & Fortune, D. G. (2021). Breaking the cycle of intergenerational trauma: Evaluating the impact of parental adverse childhood experiences on parenting group outcomes using a mixed-methods approach. Children and Youth Services Review, 130, 106–223.
Foo, S. (2022). What my bones know: A memoir of healing from complex trauma. Ballantine Books.
Foor, D. (2017). Ancestral medicine: Rituals for personal and family healing. Bear & Co.
Kelly, F. (2019). Identifying early indicators of emotional and behavioural difficulties in Irish children and testing the feasibility of an online parenting intervention for improving child mental health [Thesis].
Raab, D. (2024). Hummingbird: Messages from my ancestors. Modern History Press.
Spiel, S., Szymanski, K., & Bornstein, R. F. (2023). Intergenerational trauma, dependency, and detachment. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 211.
Van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score. Penguin Books.
Yehuda, R., Halligan, S. L., & Grossman, R. (2001). Childhood trauma and risk for PTSD: Relationship to intergenerational effects of trauma, parental PTSD, and cortisol excretion. Development and Psychopathology, 13(3), 733–753.
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2024, March 1). Resource guide to trauma-informed human services.
Written By Diana Raab Ph.D.
Originally Appeared On Psychology Today
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