Continuing the Cycle: How We Carry Intergenerational Trauma through Our Legacies

There is a novel idea that trauma is passed on from one generation to the next. Intergenerational trauma was recognized as a concept in 1966, when psychologists studied the descendants of people who had lived through the Holocaust. Another study was conducted twenty years later, which found that a considerable number of grandchildren of Holocaust survivors were overrepresented by 300% in referrals to psychiatric treatment. Researchers have been working on the effects of trauma generation after generation. A theory was founded by Rachel Yehuda who provided that children of Holocaust survivors carried the pain of their parents to a great extent. Besides this, there has been evidential results that show this transmission in their DNA, where tags in one part of the gene have been located. But, does this mean that trauma is bound to be carried on one generation after another? Or can there be alternating factors? Yehuda’s team further found epigenetic tags on the same part of this hormonal gene in both Holocaust survivors and their children, which leads to the implication of transgenerational transmission.

Parental Behaviors and Adverse Associations with Children

There have been multiple factors that correlate intergenerational violence and trauma. These include gene-environment correlation, like inherited maternal attributes, gene-environment interaction, such as inherited vulnerability to the consequences of traumatic incidents, and other unique influences from the environment, like changes in the maternal epigenome, resulting from violence and forms of trauma. There is hence a genetic predisposition present to adverse outcomes and a lower threshold to deal with stress in one’s pre-adolescent years. A common environmental pathway of this transmission is also noted, such as rearing experiences in new generations. Parental behaviors and their associations with children were researched on, and reviews found that the importance of early secure attachment was needed as buffer for mental health reasons. 

Brent Benzo conducted a study on this, in which he compared intergenerational effects of trauma within participants. At the end of it, he said, “Each generation seemed to kind of learn from the previous one, with survivors telling children, ‘Don’t trust others, don’t trust the world’.” His work, and the work of many other researchers, is part of a line of psychological disciplines that are exploring mass cultural and historical traumas. Bezo has observed a number of incidents, like the Khmer Rouge killings in Cambodia, the Rwandan genocide, the displacement of American Indians, and the Holocaust. He has noted that these transgenerational effects are more than psychological: they are familial, cultural, social, and genetic. 

Emotional Memory in the Embodiment of Trauma

Intergenerational trauma is embodied within us, as soon as we are born. “The emotional memory and physical sensations of the trauma inhabit the body as ghosts from the past… The body becomes a bridge between past and present and therefore plays an important role in the transmission of trauma,” according to Stanek in 2015. Essentially, we can note that trauma is potent in our bodies, taking up residence without intention or control. We do not have cognitive awareness when trauma becomes attached to our body, because our minds want to be distanced from its pain. As a result, this kind of continuous trauma goes unchecked and untreated, damaging our mental health and personal relationships. People cannot heal from what they do not understand, and when they lack this experiential knowledge they are not in charge of their lives. Both the mind and body need to be taken into account when we think about the overall effect of transgenerational trauma since there is an integral connection between the two. If trauma is never taken out of our emotional memory or brought to light, we push it deeper into the psyche, thus never recovering from it. 

The 1947 Partition and Kashmir

The partition of India and Pakistan took place in 1947, seventy years ago. The adults who lived through the traumatic events of this historical incidents are no longer alive, and their following generations still talk about partition as if they were a part of it. The people who lived through the violence of partition undoubtedly experienced killings, betrayals, evacuations, starvations, and destitution. Today, their children and grandchildren suffer from PTSD, which was not a part of the understanding of trauma seventy years ago. Large numbers of people who left their homes and families behind to live in this new country faced mental trauma: it just was never recognized until now.

Trauma is a recurring concept in Pakistan today, especially for those living in the militarized areas of Jammu and Kashmir. Conflict is escalated at the slightest matters and sporadic events take place in Kashmir on a daily. The cycle of trauma has been continuing ever since partition took place since Kashmir is a multi-ethnic state with a Muslim-majority population. The zone remains poor amidst this conflict, despite being rich with natural resources. There is a further lack of economic development and threats of domination from both India and Pakistan. This fueled resentment has carried on from generation to generation, instilling fear and adverse emotions in young people from both nations. 

The partition impacted millions of lives and collectively traumatized future societies. To this day, we are not able to fully process the brutality our ancestors went through, and this infliction is carried on from a mother to her child. We inherit the numbness and prejudice of bias, which is often unconscious and unrecognizable. The trauma we ignore is not our fault: in fact, it’s in our DNA, due to epigenetic inheritance. But what does this mean for our legacy?

Conclusion: Ending the Cycle of Pain

Despite the embodiment of trauma within our bodies, we are capable of ending the cycle. There is a lineage of abuse, domination, neglect, and pain that we can stop perpetuating, thus overcoming generations of transgenerational trauma and its negative impact. The only way to move forward is through awareness and pushing for a healthy change, no matter what we have been through in the past.