Is What I Feel Only Mine? On Intergenerational Trauma and What Research Knows
Some people live with a sense that something heavy accompanies them, and they can't find its source in their own life. A fear with no reason, but one that feels old. That feels familiar. As if it came from an earlier version of the family.
This feeling isn't new. The term "intergenerational trauma" was born in research on children of Holocaust survivors, who were described as carrying emotional and physical difficulties that their parents had experienced.
What did researchers find?
A systematic review found a medium to large association between parents' trauma symptoms and their children's experiences of childhood trauma, especially neglect and emotional harm. The explanation offered is simple and human: parents who suffered weren't always free to be attuned to a child. The biological research is interesting too. Rachel Yehuda and colleagues examined epigenetic changes in children of Holocaust survivors. In 2018 Yehuda and Lehrner wrote that the epigenetic explanation is for now a hypothesis still to be tested, not a proven conclusion.
These studies describe how trauma touches families. They did not test approaches such as Family Constellation or Inner Parts Work.
What do I take from this?
Not a promise, but an understanding: family stories can have an influence, even when no one tells them. That's why it's worth looking at them, gently, and asking: what's mine, and what may have reached me from the generations before me?
A short exercise: what I hold, and what I can hand back
- Sit quietly and place a hand on your belly.
- Notice a heavy sensation that has been with you lately, and ask: "Is this mine?"
- Don't try to answer in your head. Listen to the body.
- If it feels older than you, you can say inwardly: "I see that it was hard. I honor what you went through, and my life is my own."
- Let out a long exhale, as if setting something down on the floor.
Articles and small exercises like this can be a beginning. If you'd like to go deeper, you can book a constellation session on Zoom or in person in the Algarve.
Sources: Yehuda & Lehrner, World Psychiatry, 2018; systematic review, European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 2019