Definition intergenerational trauma
She wants to love her child, but sometimes she is just so, so tired, and feels so unhappy ( depression). (The above are all symptoms of complex PTSD). She also has ongoing health issues and often has colds/flu. She suffers with symptoms of hyper-vigilance, anxiety, low self-esteem, repressed anger, inconsistent moods, depression, damaged sense of self/ lack of identity, paranoia. Let’s look at an example of a mother who was badly sexually abused and never sought support to deal with her trauma.
the behaviours a child witnesses and adult carry out.the perspective, personal values and core beliefs a parent teaches the child.the activities a parent decides to do or not do with their child.the parent’s ability to offer a child proper attachment.Trauma affects the way someone parents because it affects things like: So while nobody can experience exactly what a relative has lived through, what can be passed on are the symptoms of surviving trauma, and the ways we manage stress.īy: dadblunders How does trauma affect parenting? a sudden or violen t death of a family memberīut how is it possible to ‘inherit’ trauma?Īgain, it is thought to transmit behaviourally and then through how our body responds to our DNA, called ‘epigenetics’.Other types of trauma that could cause intergenerational trauma include things like: What types of trauma can become ‘trans generational’?Ī classic example of transgenerational trauma in a family would be childhood abuse that causes a cycle of abuse and anxiety in ongoing generations. Let’s first look at how transgenerational trauma affects families, and then how it affects the collective.
They can then pass the symptoms and behaviours of trauma survival on to their children, who then might in turn pass these further along the family line, to the grandchildren and so on.Ĭollective trauma, when a group is traumatised for things like their ethnic, cultural, or religious identity, is also a form of transgenerational trauma. Which means that not only can someone experience trauma. A new field of research, only started in the 2000s, the idea is that trauma is passed on behaviourally but also potentially biologically, affecting the way our DNA behaves. It refers to how trauma passes through generations.
Transgenerational trauma is also referred to as ‘intergenerational trauma’, or shortened to ‘generational trauma’. Heard about ‘transgenerational trauma’, and wondering if it applies to what you are dealing with? What is transgenerational trauma?