Intergenerational trauma: A curse inherited at birth

Photo: Somatopia/ Collected

Picture this: you are sitting at the dinner table with your family, and you get into a disagreement with your parents. Ask yourself this: how long before comments like "just like your father" or "you must get that from your mother" start flying off in all directions?

The truth is, apart from superficial characteristics, we get a lot of our traits from our parents through genetics and observational learning. More commonly known traits passed on by our parents may include our little quirks, eating habits, or something as pivotal as ideologies. The lesser known fact is that parents may also transmit inborn genetic vulnerabilities triggered by their own traumatic experience or via parenting styles that have been impacted by their own traumatic experiences.

Intergenerational trauma – often the elephant in the room – is something that is staring at us right in the face, but we repeatedly refuse to acknowledge its existence while discussing patterns that are directly connected to it.

It is the gift or the curse, as you are most likely to call it – that keeps on giving.

What is intergenerational trauma?

Intergenerational trauma, first identified among the children of Holocaust survivors, is reportedly what children "inherit" from previous generations who have directly experienced traumatic events. The cycle of toxicity involving multigenerational trauma can start off with one person or multiple people experiencing a traumatic event collectively.

"We inherit pain. When it's not coped with, it gets passed again," said Merissa Nathan Gerson, an inherited trauma consultant for Amazon's "Transparent" series.

According to Good Therapy, epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression in response to behavioral and environmental factors that do not change the underlying DNA sequence.

In simpler terms, studies have repeatedly shown us that traumatic events can induce genetic changes in the parents, which may then be transmitted to their children with adverse effects.

It is possible that you never experienced abuse growing up, but your parents or grandparents might have. Maybe you didn't face discrimination or live through a war, but your grandparents and parents certainly did. Every individual has a different response to stress and traumatic events. It is what happens during those stress responses that may be connected to intergenerational trauma and it is known to affect both your mental and physical wellness, says PsychCentral.

Consequences

Intergenerational trauma, whether it may be biological, social, psychological or even a mix of all three, has also resulted in poor mental health, according to research.

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), in addition to physical sensations of stress and illnesses, other symptoms of intergenerational trauma may include: shame, a heightened sense of vulnerability and helplessness, low self-esteem, dissociation, hyper-vigilance, intrusive thoughts, difficulty with relationships and attachment to others, difficulty in regulating aggression, extreme reactivity to stress, neglect, abuse, violence.

Unfortunately, individualistic experiences are connected, but not limited to, physical and mental trauma. This can also impact the DNA readability and ultimately can be transferred to children as studies have shown.

In physical terms, maternal stress and trauma can lead to consequences such as a lack of fetal growth, preterm delivery, and low birth weight. The fetus, in some cases, can experience hypertension, heart disease, Type II diabetes and in some severe cases even develop cancer later in life.

Does intergenerational trauma only transpire if a generation has gone through events as big as war?

The war between Bangladesh, previously known as East Pakistan, and Pakistan was not too long ago. There was a time when war was an everyday reality for our parents, and if not them, then certainly for our grandparents. Oppression, discrimination, violence, and other hardships can be difficult to even read about, let alone experience on one's own land. Events as big as the war can create scars deep enough to leave its mark on multiple generations, according to experts.

However, this can easily apply to most South Asian nations. Sai Somana, a bisexual and non-binary South Indian living in the United States, writes in an article posted by North Carolina Asian Americans Together, "My grandmother and mother dedicated their lives to their families and sacrificed themselves along the way. The years of unacknowledged trauma manifested as emotional and physical abuse. Neither my grandmother nor my mother processed their pasts, one a child bride and the other an immigrant. Consequently, I inherited their pain, and I am forced to reconcile with a history and culture I did not choose.

The trauma that the women in my family and I experienced represents the broader issue of intergenerational trauma in the South Asian community. Our mental health is intrinsically tied to oppressive systems. Without analyzing our struggles within a sociopolitical context, we cannot confront the roots of our trauma".

Somana, in her article about the trauma, also speaks of British colonialisms, casteism and cis-heteropatriachy which have largely impacted women within the South Asian community for generations.  

"Unresolved trauma from one generation affects the well-being of future generations. While there are many ways intergenerational trauma is passed down, it is often transmitted through the parent-child relationship," says Jason Wu, a trauma-informed therapist, in a Washington Post article.

The end of a generational curse

Understanding and acknowledging the existence of the trauma itself can help combat the consequences of intergenerational trauma. Awareness can not only increase compassion towards ourselves but also the ones we love.

Sexual, physical, and emotional abuse often get swept under the rug for years, if not decades. There is no one path to healing intergenerational trauma, nor is there a set definition of what it means to heal from such traumatic events. However, with a little bit of patience and professional guidance, it is possible to slowly peel back the layers of trauma that have accumulated over the years and tend to each scar, one at a time.

So the ball is in our court. Do we keep turning a blind eye to the issues staring us right in the face, or can we help end the toxic chain of intergenerational trauma?