{"id":19497,"date":"2022-02-10T11:03:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-10T16:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepapergown.zocdoc.com\/?p=19497"},"modified":"2023-03-08T14:02:08","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T19:02:08","slug":"intergenerational-trauma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/intergenerational-trauma\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Intergenerational Trauma?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Intergenerational trauma has become a buzzword in online mental health spaces, popping up in cultural dialogues, on social media and in popular books like <\/span>It Didn’t Start With You.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Although there are many words for it \u2014 ancestral, historical, intergenerational \u2014 at its core, the concept suggests that trauma can be passed down through generations. Even if a descendant didn\u2019t directly experience an adverse event, like the Holocaust, they still might experience the impacts of it, says Anissa Howard, a Michigan-based therapist with <\/span>Birmingham Maple Clinic<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just a theory either: Multiple landmark studies support the existence of inherited trauma. One <\/span>2014 research review looked<\/span><\/a> at the effects of Indian Residential Schools in Canada, which subjected Aboriginal children to horrific abuse and neglect. Descendants of former students were more likely to experience distressing physical and psychological conditions than those whose forebears had avoided the IRS system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While this study is compelling, the research on ancestral trauma overall is still in its infancy \u2014 so much so that it hasn\u2019t yet made it into the DSM-5, the mental health diagnosis manual. Some critics even claim it\u2019s a sham. <\/span>\u201cThese are, in fact, extraordinary claims, and they are being advanced on less than ordinary evidence,\u201d Kevin Mitchell, an associate professor of genetics and neurology at Trinity College, Dublin, told the <\/span>New York Times<\/span><\/i><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Still, some practitioners, like Austin, <\/span>Texas-based therapist Sara Sloan<\/span><\/a>, discuss inherited trauma with patients to gain an understanding of patterns, health and patient behavior when there is no other answer.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Where did the idea of intergenerational trauma originate?<\/h3>\n

Many of the studies on ancestral trauma look at the descendants of populations who experienced mass traumatic events, like genocide, chattel slavery or war. In other instances, they\u2019ve focused on the descendants of people who have been repeatedly marginalized, like Indigenous populations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Canadian psychiatrist Dr. Vivian M. Rakoff conducted some of the earliest research in the field <\/span>in 1966<\/span><\/a>. He and his colleagues found <\/span>elevated rates<\/span><\/a> of psychological distress in children of Holocaust survivors. All three were born after the Holocaust, but two went on to <\/span>attempt suicide<\/span><\/a>. <\/b>(Critics have <\/span>questioned that study\u2019s small sample size<\/span><\/a>.)<\/span> A <\/span>2018 study<\/span><\/a> may stand on firmer ground: It found that the male children of men abused in prisoner-of-war camps during the American Civil War were likely to die earlier than peers without that ancestral experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTransmission from father to son to male-line grandson suggests Y chromosome [was affected],\u201d says <\/span>Dora Costa<\/span><\/a>, a UCLA economics professor who authored the study. \u201cWhy it would happen on the Y chromosome, I don’t know.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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What are the symptoms of intergenerational trauma? How might they differ and\/or look similar to symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder?<\/h3>\n

Descendants might experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, like increased stress and behavioral issues, but don\u2019t have a specific reason to blame in their own lives, Sloan says.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

West Virginia craniosacral therapist Patricia Rogers says generally, symptoms may include:<\/span><\/p>\n