IS TRAUMA HEREDITARY ? Transgenerational trauma is trauma that is transferred from the first generation of trauma survivors to the second and further generations of offspring of the survivors via complex post-traumatic stress disorder mechanisms.
It is a continuous challenge living with depression and anxiety, now posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and I've suffered from it for most of my life. I can look back now and gently laugh at all the people who thought I had the perfect life. I was young, beautiful, and talented, but unbeknownst to them, I was terrorized by an undiagnosed debilitating mental illness. Having been properly diagnosed with depression at age 29, I know that there is not one aspect of my life that has gone untouched by this. My PTSD was triggered by several traumas, including a childhood laced with physical, mental, spiritual and sexual abuse. For me there was no safe place in the world, not even my home at sometimes. As I went through my divorce I started doing a spiritual fast and begin to become more transparent with myself and generational trauma, from my mother and father side. I begin to realize that this was not about me but from generation before me.... I've been in counseling for 5 years and to this day, I am still learning more about the mind and how our genes play a strong role in our life. Researchers have shown that vulnerability to posttraumatic stress can be passed down biologically from one generation to the next. These findings provide scientific explanations for how PTSD extends beyond the individual, reaching into family lineages, ultimately impacting entire communities and the larger society. One common finding among all the studies presented here, is that low cortisol levels in the body chemistry make us more vulnerable to developing posttraumatic stress symptoms. Cortisol, which is the hormone linked to management of stress and trauma, can be depleted in the mother due to exposure to traumatic events such as 9/11, the Holocaust, domestic violence or emotional abuse, poverty, housing, financial and food insecurity. The mother, through this exposure to extreme stress, burns through her cortisol reserves and significantly increases her vulnerability to developing PTSD. The Research… Groups of research studies were carried out that examined:
For me there is no cure, no final healing. But there are things I can do to ensure that I never have to suffer as I did before being diagnosed with PTSD. I'm no longer at the mercy of my disorder and I would not be here today had I not had the proper diagnosis and treatment. The most important thing to know is that it's never too late to seek help. Please check out this book that I read the other day at Barnes and Nobles: It Didn't Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycleby Mark Wolynn Some References The study was conducted by two universities; first is the Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences in Sari, Iran. The other is the Medical University of the Americas, Charlestown, Saint Kitts and Nevis (in the Caribbean). The article is titled A review on the evidence of transgenerational transmission of posttraumatic stress disorder vulnerability. The researchers are Seyyed Taha Yahyavi,1 Mehran Zarghami,1 Urvashi Marwah2. Perkonigg A, Kessler RC, Storz S, Wittchen HU. Traumatic events and posttraumatic stress disorder in the community: Prevalence, risk factors, and comorbidity. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2000;101:46-59. http://www.new-synapse.com/aps/wordpress/?p=861
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