What to Know About Inherited Family Trauma
No matter what we outwardly portray about our lives on a day-to-day basis, many of us carry unsaid or invisible burdens. It could be things we’re afraid of at a gut level. It could be certain behaviors or emotional responses that we can’t fully explain. While they come from within you, they don’t necessarily feel like you.
It may actually be something you’ve inherited from your family system. When you break down any family, there are often ties that weave between members or qualities handed down from parent to child. Things that make you think “I’m my mother’s daughter,” or “I’m my father’s son.”
Family trauma is an interesting topic due to its invisible nature. Here’s a deeper exploration of this phenomenon.
What Exactly Is Inherited Family Trauma?
Inherited family trauma is a term for trauma that was originally experienced by ancestors and passed down through familial descendants. The family members affected by the trauma aren’t directly involved with the experience itself.
Typically, the trauma is passed down from generation to generation without the ancestor realizing it’s happening. There’s no purposeful or malicious intention behind it. The problem is that it operates in a vicious cycle.
The Signs
Have you ever experienced unexplained anxiety or depression? Have you had this need to be worried, but don’t have a valid reason? This can be a habit that you’ve acquired if you have a parent living with it, specifically stemming from something traumatic that happened to them.
Addiction and substance use are other signs. Originally used as a coping strategy by the person who experienced the trauma, ongoing generations adopted that struggle.
Attachment styles are something we develop as children, depending on the relationship we have with our caregivers. If our parents were struggling with their own experience, or handed down trauma of their own, they may not have been the most present and attentive to our needs. As we develop into adults, we may struggle to develop a secure attachment style. This can lead to trust issues and relationship difficulties.
Additional signs to watch for include:
Anger and irritability
Difficulty connecting socially
Grief
Hypervigilance
Memory Loss
Nightmares
Suicidal Ideation
Withdrawal
What Causes Inherited Family Trauma?
Childhood years are some of the most impressionable years of our development. Just as your parents pass down DNA characteristics, they can also pass on trauma.
Disease and chronic illnesses all have genetic components. Mental health concerns are no exception to that rule.
Being in a household with someone who either suffered a traumatic experience or has had inherited family trauma of their own increases your likelihood of sharing the experience.
How to Heal From Inherited Family Trauma
Just like anything falling under the trauma umbrella, inherited family trauma may take some effort to recover from. This is even more true when it has deep roots over generations.
Taking steps to alleviate the burden you carry is key.
Talk About It
Avoiding or ignoring trauma isn’t going to make it suddenly disappear. And it’s definitely not going to protect anyone further. It’s important to have conversations about what’s going on. This includes the trauma itself, who’s involved and the impact it’s having. Open discussions help to prevent the vicious cycle from continuing.
Heal Together
You don’t want to identify and place blame on any one person. Instead, come together as a family and make this a healing journey. There may be multiple family members going through this experience on their own. One way to find healing is to work together.
Seek Additional Support
In some instances, talking about the trauma and working together as a family isn’t enough. You may need to explore outside, professional guidance to get you through it and develop healthy habits.
If your family is struggling with a past trauma, you don’t have to continue carrying that weight. Contact us today to learn more about trauma therapy.