Healing your own emotions is easy. But, when they are inherited from one or more ancestors, that’s where things get tricky.
Trauma inherited from previous generations can seriously impact your emotions and daily behaviors. However, it is not easy to find and resolve it within you.
You will need to know the common generational trauma examples to identify these emotions within you. Only then, will you be able to start your ancestral healing journey.
This blog will help you with nine common intergenerational trauma examples, signs that you have them, and common treatment methods.
What is Generational Trauma Definition?
Trauma refers to a person’s feelings and even physical responses to specific events. These responses can manifest themselves in problematic behaviors, physical illnesses, or even psychological disorders.
When such responses are carried down to the next generation, it is referred to as intergenerational trauma or transgenerational trauma.
These emotional and physical responses are often passed to the next generation through genes, social teachings, direct exposure, learned behaviors, and even subconscious energy exchanges.
Let us find common transgenerational trauma examples below.
Generational Trauma Examples
Historically there have been several examples of trauma carried on within communities. Some of the examples for it are mentioned below.
1. Wars and Displacement
Families that have faced war and displacement often pass down survival-driven behaviors. These could manifest as emotional suppression, overprotectiveness, insecure attachment style, and chronic anxiety.
On the other hand, the oppressors may pass down the emotions of guilt and shame to their children. Post-holocaust Germany is a common generational trauma example. Many Germans still face the oppressor’s guilt and sadness without reason.
2. Slavery and Systemic Oppression
Systemic racism, oppression, and slavery in a community leave those families with emotions of low worth, fears of safety, grief, and anger. For instance, many African Americans still hold unresolved feelings of anger and grief due to their history of enslavement.
3. Abuse Within Families
Physical, emotional, or sexual abuse of a person can be carried down to further generations. It comes among common examples of generational trauma. The descendants may inherit feelings of low trust, low worth, overprotectiveness, and unable to understand how to feel feelings.
4. Addiction and Substance Abuse
Substance abuse within a family creates an environment of instability, neglect, and confusion. Children of such families often develop co-dependent behaviors, poor coping mechanisms, and are at risk of repeating addiction behaviors.
5. Colonization
Colonization is another intergenerational trauma example. It often forces communities to abandon their traditions, languages, and overall cultural identities. Several mental health effects of colonization include feelings of disconnection, loss of identity, and shame for several generations.
6. Economic Hardship
Families who have lived through extreme poverty often pass down the fear of financial instability. Scarcity mindsets, overworking, and reluctance to take risks can persist across generations.
The families who endured the Great Depression in the 1930s ended up raising children who valued frugality even more than their physical and emotional health.
7. Natural Disasters
Natural disasters also come among a type of generational trauma examples. When people of a community have experienced devastating disasters, then they are likely to pass down the emotions of fear, hypervigilance, and a sense of unpredictability.
8. Health Crises
Chronic physical illness or mental disorders in a family can create a ripple effect across generations. They may create a family environment of fear, sadness, hopelessness, and helplessness.
Such illnesses may also be carried through genes. It further complicates the emotional stability of children in these families. Womb healing techniques can be used to resolve these issues within individuals.
9. Other Effects
Parental loss or abandonment, exposure to toxic gases or radiation, violent neighborhoods, and maternal stress during pregnancy are other examples of intergenerational trauma.
Signs That You Have Intergenerational Trauma
Do you wonder if you have inherited ancestral trauma or not? There are certain signs that will help you determine. They are mentioned below:
- Constant Anxiety or Hypervigilance
- Unexplained Guilt or Shame
- Emotional Numbness
- Overprotectiveness
- Fear of Abandonment
- Difficulty Trusting Others
- Perfectionism or Overachievement
- Financial Anxiety or Hoarding Resources
- Chronic Stress or Burnout
- Intergenerational Conflict
- Unexplained Fears or Phobias
- Attachment Issues
- Addiction Patterns
- Inherited Health Problems
- Avoidance of Conflict
- Sense of Not Belonging
- Reenacting Trauma Cycles
- Overwhelming Sense of Responsibility
- Overreaction to Triggers
- Fear of Expressing Emotions
You can use the above signs as transgenerational trauma examples to understand whether you suffer from any of these dysfunctional emotions within you.
Treatments for Transgenerational Trauma
If you have inherited dysfunctional emotions from a previous generation, then you must seek appropriate treatment plans to heal it. Below are some treatments for all types of generational trauma to help you.
- Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT): This technique helps individuals address negative emotions and replace them with healthier ones. It is quite effective in the emotional healing stages of unresolved ancestral feelings.
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): EMDR uses guided eye movements or other bilateral stimulation to reduce the emotional intensity of trauma.
- Family Therapy: It focuses on the family as a whole to resolve dysfunctional patterns and develop healthier group dynamics.
- Somatic Therapy: In this therapy, the practitioners help individuals release trauma emotions that are stored within their bodies. It uses mindful awareness practices to identify and resolve these feelings.
- Narrative Therapy: Narrative therapy helps individuals reframe inherited stories of suffering and survival. By examining family histories, clients gain control over the narrative and find empowerment within it.
Apart from the above treatment options several alternatives can also be used for generation trauma healing. These are ancestral healing rituals, community support practices, psychoeducation, journaling, and resilience-building exercises.
All in All
You can use the generational trauma examples to identify the type of dysfunctional emotions that you inherited from ancestors.
Once you understand these emotions and their signs within you, then you may start with the appropriate treatment plans to resolve them.