How many times have you felt like you were dealing with something, but weren’t sure where it was coming from? That’s because you may have been dealing with your parents’ and/or grandparents’ trauma.
It’s called generational or historical trauma. It’s also known as transgenerational and intergenerational trauma.
For the sake of this post, I’ll refer to it as transgenerational trauma.
For the record, I am NOT a therapist or expert in or on trauma.
When I speak, I speak from a place of personal experience and what I have researched over the years of learning how to heal myself.
Now, back to the subject at hand.
Transgenerational Trauma
Let’s set the baseline here and discuss. According to the American Psychological Association, the transgenerational effects are not only psychological, but familial, social, cultural, neurobiological and possibly even genetic as well, the researchers say.
Simply put, transgenerational trauma means that it can be transferred in between generations.
Who Does This Affect?
For the most part, to keep things simple, trauma is transferred through complex post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This usually happens through prolonged, repeated experience of interpersonal trauma where the individual has little or no chance of escape.
The victims, or those who have suffered are war survivors, kidnapped victims, abuse victims, foster care survivors, etc.
Not everyone who is a part of the group listed above passes on trauma to the next generation. It means that it is likely that this may be passed onto future generations.
What is tricky, if you will, is that the behavior is passed on from the adult to the child through unconscious behavior and energy.
This may look like something as simple as unconsciously holding your child’s hand tightly when a certain group of people walk by, even though you’re smiling nicely.
The child sees you smiling while simultaneously holding its hand tightly as if there is something to fear.
In the moment, you are unconsciously reacting from trauma, real or perceived, from your past and are now passing it on to your child.
Effects of Transgenerational Trauma
It’s easy to say that you are not dealing with any sort of trauma but, let’s look at some of the effects of transgenerational trauma.
The effects may include but are not limited to:
- Unresolved emotions and thoughts about a traumatic event
- Negative repeated patterns of behavior including beliefs about parenting
- Untreated or poorly treated substance abuse or severe mental illness
- Poor parent-child relationships and emotional attachment
- Complicated personality traits or personality disorders
- Content attitude with the ways things are within the family
Now, you may be asking, what does this have to do with me.
IT HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH YOU!
Suffering From Transgenerational Trauma
If you’ve found yourself reacting to something that you have no actual experience with, you know like saying:
“Black people are thugs”
“Arabs are terrorists”
“middle-aged white men are serial killers”
…then you’re probably reacting from transgenerational trauma.
You may have never interacted with any of these people and you hold some sort of prejudice against them. This has been passed on to you from previous generations, my friends.
I want to be clear: I am not a therapist. If you feel like you are suffering with PTSD or any other mental health issue, please see a licensed professional.
As a spiritual leader and Lightworker, it is my responsibility to shine my light in the dark places you may be missing.
It is important to understand that most people are not reacting because of something that actually HAPPENED to them, it could be the result of transgenerational trauma.
It is important to extend grace whenever possible. And always remember:
“HEALED PEOPLE HEAL PEOPLE.” ~Andréa A Michel
