Intergenerational Trauma
Intergenerational trauma also referred to as transgenerational or multigenerational trauma refers to the specific experience of trauma across familial generations. Much of the research surrounding intergenerational trauma emerged from the study of Holocaust survivors in the late 1960s (Goodman, 2013, p.388; Rich et al., 2009, p.5). Many families enter the therapeutic setting with complex trauma histories. Trauma can be defined as experiences or situations that are emotionally painful and distressing, and that overwhelm an individual’s ability to cope (Rich et al., 2009, p4).
These histories are complex in that every generation seems to be affected by adversity, mental health issues, substance use, and some governmental agency involvement. Untreated traumatic stress has serious consequences for children, adults, and families. However, not all families carry the burden of what happened generations ago, some families are more resilient than others and are able to acknowledge the past while looking toward the future (Goodman, 2013, p.389; Herum, 2013, p.3).
According to Rich et al. (2009), trauma theory gained significance and credibility largely as a result of Vietnam Veterans who were willing to share their experiences, and “it represents a fundamental shift in thinking from the supposition that those who have experienced psychological trauma are either “sick” or deficient in moral character to the reframe that they are “injured” and in need of healing “(p.6).
Several theoretical approaches support the theory of intergenerational trauma and provide a rationale for how trauma may be transmitted. Based on his clinical observations of families, the hypotheses he made about these observations, and knowledge from the biological and evolutionary sciences as developed at the time of his writing, psychiatrist and researcher
Family System
Murray Bowen formulated a theory of natural systems. This theory, known as Bowen family systems theory (BFST) is sometimes known as multigenerational family therapy and it explains how potent relational forces ensure survival and facilitate less anxious physiological states crucial to wellness (Corey, 2013, p.406-408). Bowen’s theory provides a conceptual understanding of how an individual’s functioning may be affected by family members through generations. As Corey describes, “emotional problems will be transmitted from generation to generation until unresolved emotional attachments are dealt with” (p.407).
John Bowlby’s attachment theory explains as a neurobiological system originating from an infant’s connection to the primary caretaker. Attachment theory is a cognitive theory about the development of mental models of intimate relationships (Sigelman & Rider, 2018, p.441). This connection becomes a lifelong model for all subsequent relationships. As Iyengar et al. (2014) put it, “A mother’s unresolved trauma may interfere with her ability to sensitively respond to her infant, thus affecting the development of attachment to her own child, and potentially contributing to the intergenerational transmission of trauma” (p.1). Parent’s unresolved trauma has been associated with insecure attachment to their children (Iyengar, 2014, p.1).
Attachment is a behavioral system through which humans regulate their emotions when under threat (Herum, 2013, p.3; Sigelman & Rider, 2018, p.440). From a neurological perspective, some studies have shown that a mother’s disengagement from her child’s distress may be the result of her unresolved trauma and may be a contributory factor in the transmission of trauma (Iyengar, 2014, p.2). Weisman et al. (2010) study with Holocaust survivors showed that open parent-child communication concerning the parents’ traumatic memories of their Holocaust experiences on the children’s interpersonal patterns can be understood in the context of working models of attachment (p.378).
Social Learning Theory
Social Learning Theory introduced by Albert Bandura theorizes that people learn from one another through observation, imitation, and modeling (Sigelman & Rider, 2018, p.410) is often applied to the intergenerational transmission of family violence (Woollett, & Thomson, 2016, p.1068). The transmission of trauma is similar to the transmission of violence. Children learn by watching their parents/caregivers and imitating their behavior from infancy through young adulthood. Both of these concepts can be understood within the context of continuous traumatic stress, which is described as the experience of repeated traumatic events (Woollett, & Thomson, 2016, p.1069).
In addition to the behavioral theories addressed, increasing biological research that started in the late 1990s has begun to speculate that the offspring of trauma survivors may have specific biological markers (Yehuda, & Lehrner, 2018, p.244). Epigenetics refers to a set of potentially heritable changes in the genome that can be induced by environmental events. The concept of intergenerational trauma acknowledges that exposure to extremely adverse events impacts individuals to such a great extent that their offspring find themselves grappling with their parents’ post‐traumatic state. A more recent and provocative claim is that the experience of trauma, or more accurately the effect of that experience, is passed somehow from one generation to the next through non‐genomic, possibly epigenetic mechanisms affecting DNA function or gene transcription (Yehuda & Lehrner, 2018).
References
Corey, G. (2013). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. Boston MA: Cengage Learning Goodman, R. D. (2013). The transgenerational trauma and resilience genogram. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 26(3-4), 386-405. doi:10.1080/09515070.2013.820172 Herum, A.M. (2013). Preventing the intergenerational transmission of trauma. Retrieved from https://www.mdedge.com/psychiatry/article/57864/preventing-intergenerational-transmission-trauma Iyengar, U., Kim, S., Martinez, S., Fonagy, P., & Strathearn, L. (2014). Unresolved trauma in mothers: intergenerational effects and the role of reorganization. Frontiers in psychology, 5, 966. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00966 Rich, J., Corbin, T., Bloom, S., Rich, L., Evans, S., Wilson, A. (2009). Healing the Hurt: Trauma-Informed approaches to the health of boys and young men of color. Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice and Department of Medicine, Drexel University. Retrieved from https://unnaturalcauses.org/assets/uploads/file/HealingtheHurt-Trauma-Rich%20et%20al.pdf Sigelman, C.K & Rider, E.A (2018). The life span: Human development 9th ed. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning ISBN: 978-1-337-10073-1 Wiseman, Hadas & Barberb, Jacques & Raza, Alon & Yama, Idit & Foltzb, Carol & Snir, Sharon. (2010). Parental communication of Holocaust experiences and interpersonal patterns in offspring of Holocaust survivors. International Journal of Behavioral Development. 371-381. 10.1080/01650250143000346. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233294834_Parental_communication_of_Holocaust_experiences_and_interpersonal_patterns_in_offspring_of_Holocaust_survivors/citation/download Woollett, N, & Thomson, K. (2016). Understanding the intergenerational transmission of violence. SAMJ: South African Medical Journal, 106(11), 1068-1070. https://dx.doi.org/10.7196/samj.2016.v106i11.12065 Yehuda, R., & Lehrner, A. (2018). Intergenerational transmission of trauma effects: putative role of epigenetic mechanisms. World psychiatry: official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), 17(3), 243–257. doi:10.1002/wps.20568
