Intergenerational ACEs

From an article by PsychCentral

Intergenerational trauma is essentially what happens when adverse events or experiences are passed down from one generation to the next, often in unspoken and deeply complex ways.

Maybe you weren’t abused growing up, but your parents or grandparents were. Maybe you didn’t face discrimination or live through a war, but your great-grandparents did.

In other words, the root of our triggers can be as much — if not more — about the past than the present. People from marginalized groups may have more pronounced experiences with intergenerational trauma. Those who are descendants of people who have experienced violence from living in war zones and other hardships may also be more likely to experience intergenerational trauma.

Some experts have attributed intergenerational trauma to the stress of living with a traumatized person who may still be reliving horrific events. Others attributed intergenerational trauma to children becoming affected by their parents’ unwanted pain.

Some ways trauma can be passed down include; DNA modifications, cultural messages and conditioning, cumulative emotional wounding, dominant family narratives, normalization of dehumanization toward others, parents bypassing or not coping with their trauma, aggressions. and micro-aggressions.

Intergenerational trauma can affect individuals and families in different ways. Intergenerational trauma might affect families, including; disconnection, denial, impaired self-esteem, an emotional connection between an abuser and their target, neglect, abuse, violence.

In addition to physical sensations of stress and illnesses, other symptoms of intergenerational trauma, according to the American Psychological Association, include; shame, a heightened sense of vulnerability and helplessness, low self-esteem, hyper-vigilance, intrusive thoughts, difficulty with relationships and attachment to others, difficulty in regulating aggression, extreme reactivity to stress.
 

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