Echoes of the Past: Exploring the Impact of Intergenerational Trauma

“It Didn’t Start With You, But It Can End With You” - Mark Wolynn

You wake up in a safe home, with food in the fridge and people who love you. Yet anxiety grips you. You flinch at sounds, feel a tightness in your chest, and sense danger without cause. You search your life for answers, but what if the trauma isn’t yours? What if you inherited it?

This article explores intergenerational trauma, the psychological wounds passed silently from one generation to the next, and how we can begin to heal what we didn’t cause.

What Is Intergenerational Trauma?

Intergenerational trauma (also known as transgenerational trauma) refers to the emotional and psychological effects of trauma that are passed from parents to children, often without conscious awareness. The trauma of one generation, such as war, genocide, racism, or abuse, can affect future generations through behaviors, relationships, and even genetics.

Researchers first observed this in children of Holocaust survivors, who exhibited symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, and depression despite never experiencing the trauma directly (Kellermann, 2001).

This phenomenon also affects:

• Children of war veterans

• Descendants of enslaved populations

• Indigenous communities

• Refugee and immigrant families

How Is Trauma Passed Down Through Generations?

1. Environment and Family Dynamics

Parents affected by trauma often struggle with emotional regulation, anxiety, and detachment. These responses shape their parenting, often resulting in insecure attachment styles in children. A parent who survived violence may become overly protective or emotionally unavailable, creating fear and instability in the child, even if no danger exists.

2. Epigenetics and Inherited Trauma

Trauma doesn’t just live in memories, it can also live in our genes. Epigenetic changes can occur when trauma alters how genes are expressed. For example, changes in the FKBP5 gene, associated with stress regulation, have been found in both Holocaust survivors and their children (Yehuda et al., 2016).

3. Silence and Emotional Suppression

Many families never speak of the traumas they endured. This conspiracy of silence can breed confusion and emotional voids in children, who instinctively sense unspoken pain. When trauma remains hidden, it continues to affect future generations beneath the surface.

Real-World Examples of Intergenerational Trauma

Indigenous Communities

Colonization, forced assimilation, and systemic oppression have left Indigenous peoples with deep wounds. In Canada, the legacy of Residential Schools has resulted in multi-generational struggles with identity, addiction, and mental illness (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015).

African American Descendants of Slavery

The trauma of slavery and centuries of racism continue to impact Black mental health in the U.S. Communities still carry emotional burdens, contributing to higher rates of PTSD, depression, and chronic stress (DeGruy, 2005; Bryant-Davis, 2007).

Refugee and Immigrant Families

Children of refugees and immigrants often internalize fears of instability and carry the pressure to "make their family's sacrifice worth it." These children may show signs of trauma despite never living through the original events (Volkan, 2001).

Breaking the Cycle: How to Heal Intergenerational Trauma

1. Acknowledgment and Storytelling

Naming the trauma is the first step toward healing. Families can begin to break the cycle by sharing their stories, honoring their cultural roots, and understanding the emotional lineage they carry.

2. Mental Health Support and Therapy

Evidence-based therapies such as:

• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)

• IFS (Internal Family Systems)

• Trauma-informed therapy

…can help individuals process inherited trauma and move toward healing, even if the trauma wasn’t personally experienced.

3. Cultural and Community Healing

For communities, cultural reconnection is essential. Indigenous and minority groups often heal through traditional practices, rituals, storytelling, and community gatherings. For example, rongoā Māori in New Zealand is helping Indigenous communities recover from the effects of colonization.

4. Epigenetic Reversibility

The hopeful science of epigenetics shows that trauma-linked changes can be reversed. Supportive environments, healthy relationships, and therapy can restore balance to the mind and body (Nestler et al., 2016).

Why Understanding Intergenerational Trauma Matters Now

We live in a world shaped by pandemics, war, displacement, and collective anxiety. If we do not recognize and heal intergenerational trauma, we risk passing it on again.

But healing is possible. We can be the generation that stops the cycle.

Therapist Orders:

Intergenerational trauma teaches us that pain is not always personal, but healing can be. This work may ask us to confront grief we never lived and emotions we don’t understand. But in doing so, we gain the chance to create a new legacy. One of strength, resilience, and emotional freedom.

As Mark Wolynn said, “It didn’t start with you, but it can end with you.”

References:

Bryant-Davis, T. (2007). Healing requires recognition: The case for race-based traumatic stress. The Counseling Psychologist, 35(1), 135–143.

• Danieli, Y. (1998). International Handbook of Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma. Springer.

• DeGruy, J. (2005). Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing.

• Kellermann, N. P. F. (2001). Transmission of Holocaust trauma—An integrative view. Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes, 64(3), 256–267.

• Nestler, E. J., Peña, C. J., Kundakovic, M., Mitchell, A., & Akbarian, S. (2016). Epigenetic basis of mental illness. The Neuroscientist, 22(5), 447–463.

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015). Honoring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future.

• Volkan, V. D. (2001). Transgenerational transmission and chosen traumas: An aspect of large-group identity. Group Analysis, 34(1), 79–97.

• Yehuda, R., & Lehrner, A. (2018). Intergenerational transmission of trauma effects: Putative role of epigenetic mechanisms. World Psychiatry, 17(3), 243–257.

• Yehuda, R. et al. (2016). Holocaust exposure induced intergenerational effects on FKBP5 methylation. Biological Psychiatry, 80(5), 372–380.

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