When you think of trauma, do you think that what happened to your grandmother or mother is only passed down to you emotionally? It turns out that the legacy of trauma is passed down in other ways and involves more than emotional inheritance. 

How Parents' Trauma Leaves Biological Traces in Children | Scientific American describes how trauma may be passed down through generations via genetics, that is, on a physiological level. “Epigenetics [the way genes function] potentially explains why effects of trauma may endure long after the immediate threat is gone, and it is also implicated in the diverse pathways by which trauma is transmitted to future generations. The implications of these findings may seem dire, suggesting that parental trauma predisposes offspring to be vulnerable to mental health conditions.” But there’s also “evidence that the epigenetic response may serve as an adaptation that might help the children of traumatized parents cope with similar adversities,” not discussed in this blog.

These implications suggest you might be at risk for depression, anxiety or PTSD if your parent suffered trauma, because what we once believed about cortisol escalating during trauma and then receding, turns out to be untrue. For example, “High levels of stress hormones, if sustained for a long time, harm the body in multiple ways, weakening the immune system and increasing susceptibility to problems such as hypertension.”

“In people who have already endured trauma, their stress systems might be sensitized and their cortisol levels diminished—increasing their adrenaline response to further trauma and leading to PTSD.” This puts them more at risk to heightened reactions to traumatic events. According to this article, the uterine environment also leave its trauma mark on the developing fetus. 

Sadly, many clients feel defective and blame themselves for their depression, anxieties or fears. Mostly they think they caused these problems and the subsequent ones which arise from them. They feel less guilt and shame when we discuss what went wrong in their parents’ and caretakers lives’ and how dysfunctional parenting can shape their children lives. Rarely do we discuss the genetic linkage between generations. The purpose of these discussions isn’t to set clients up to hold parents accountable for their children’s problems, but to help clients understand that they did not cause their poor mental health. This understanding can lead to clients feeling compassion for themselves and for the people who raised them. 

https://www.karenrkoenig.com/blog/more-on-trauma

https://www.karenrkoenig.com/blog/trauma-the-body-and-eating 

Best,

Karen