Intergenerational Trauma

A term that is used to describe the impact of a traumatic experience, not only on one generation but on subsequent generations after the event. With intergenerational trauma, a child is exposed indirectly to the trauma of a parent, which can become a generational cycle. I tend to define intergenerational trauma as a traumatic event that began years prior to the current generation and has impacted the ways in which individuals within a family understand, cope with, and heal from trauma.

For example, the father in a family may suffer from an anxiety disorder which causes him to engage in behaviors that leaves his stress constantly being transmitted in harmful ways toward his daughter. This daughter, having endured years of emotional and psychological abuse, now has her own family but has not been able to release herself (psychologically and emotionally) from the loss of safety she endured as a child. As a result, she begins to exhibit many of the same behaviors of her father, which leads to her own children exhibiting similar behaviors. These behaviors, including dysfunctional ways of coping, continue for generations. These unhealthy behaviors then become a “normal” way of raising children within the family.

Intergenerational trauma can negatively impact families as a result of:

1. Unresolved emotions and thoughts about a traumatic event
2. Negative repeated patterns of behavior, including beliefs about parenting
3. Untreated or poorly treated substance abuse or severe mental illness
4. Poor parent-child relationships and emotional attachment
5. Complicated personality traits or personality disorders
6. Content attitude with the ways things are within the family

Trauma leaves a lasting impact on a person. It can shape their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, but it can also affect their parenting, communication, and connection with their children.

Trauma-Informed: This work acknowledges the impact that (intergenerational) trauma and toxic stress has on a child’s (and caregiver's) physical, psychological and emotional development. Informed by an adaptive information processing perspective that accounts for "what happened to" instead of "what's wrong with" a human being. Trauma informed means providing safety, and co-creating trust while attending sensitively to all needs. As well as, providing choices and collaboration that empowers and respects diversity.