Is Intergenerational Trauma Breakable?
Intergenerational trauma is trauma that is transferred from first-generation survivors to the second and further generations via complex PTSD mechanisms
Intergenerational trauma is trauma that is transferred from first-generation survivors to the second and further generations via complex PTSD mechanisms.
The phenomenon of children of traumatised parents being affected directly or indirectly by their parents’ post-traumatic symptoms and that being transferred down generations surfaced the concept of intergenerational trauma.
When the people who came before us fail to deal with their trauma head-on, it does, undoubtedly, become ours. Intergenerational trauma is kept alive through observation, experience, direct or indirect criticism, or expectations set upon us—we absorb it, enabling it to settle into generations. One example is parents who try to live indirectly through their offsprings, creating immense pressure to live out success where they have previously failed. Another example is mothers who have been abused encouraging and instilling submissive behaviour in their own daughters’ relationships during their upbringing.
According to experts, facing our trauma and wounding is necessary. When we find a way to discharge our pain and then integrate it, we allow for the healing to spread in every direction. This means we may be carrying the trauma of our forefathers who only knew poverty or extreme racism that is still so clearly felt and experienced today by current generations. When we start to face ourselves, we give ourselves and others around us an opportunity to heal. While seeking the help of a professional is always encouraged, this is effective work you can begin to do yourself.
Psychological mechanisms that favour intergenerational trauma include disassociation in the context of attachment and communication of prior traumatic experience in the effect of parental efforts to maintain self-regulation in the context of PTSD and related alterations in social cognitive processes.
Breaking the chain of intergenerational trauma is more about understanding than playing the blame game. Listen closely to your family’s narrative, understand their social and historical circumstances and then navigating your feelings around all these factors, is the start of breaking the chain. Then navigate the very difficult terrain of emotionally separating which parts you want and which parts you don’t. This breaks the chain of intergenerational trauma and releases your future generations from carrying the hefty load of feeling someone else’s pain.
Check out 4 ways to cope with past trauma
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