Examples of Generational Trauma
What Is Generational Trauma?
If you had a good childhood, you may be asking yourself, “How can this affect me? I was never abused. I never had something bad happen when I was young.”
But…maybe your parents did. Or your grandparents. And so on. If you grew up in an abusive home or had a parent that was a narcissist, the same rules apply.
So… what does generational trauma mean? The American Psychological Association states that “intergenerational trauma is expressed when the descendant of someone who experienced a traumatic event presents challenging emotional and behavioral reactions that are similar to their ancestor or relative.”
Now let me pause for a sec. You may be wondering what on earth this looks like and how it applies to you. So let’s use a hypothetical example:
You have a mother who lost a sibling at a very young age, and this trauma leaves an imprint on he brain. This imprint holds feelings of grief, anger, sadness, and trauma. This can affect you in two ways:
- This imprint could be passed onto you, and
- The way your mother’s parents (your grandparents) dealt with grief/trauma – which was to not acknowledge it at all – was passed on to your mother.
What you experience when triggered may be related to generational trauma.
Breaking Generational Trauma
I help people first acknowledge and hold space for the traumas inflicted to our families, and help build empathy and understanding. I also provide a safe space to acknowledge how it impacted you both in childhood, and present day.
Luckily, as an adult, you now have the power and responsibility to unlearn some of the behaviors that were passed down as a result of generational trauma, and reparent yourself in a way that is more authentic and healthy for you as an individual.
Hi! As a trauma therapist in Los Angeles, I specialize in working with adult children of parents who were emotionally unavailable due to generational/inherited trauma. If you are experiencing anxiety from a very obvious trigger in the environment, that trigger makes sense because it is superrr easy to identify.
But what about when the trigger is coming from within? If the trigger is coming from an internalized place, it’s a lot more difficult to pinpoint where the anxiety is coming from. This can become even more frustrating when the trigger is coming from within AND it’s not even yours.
You don’t need to know what the trauma was in your family, nor is it your responsibility to fix or resolve generational trauma. But you are living the effects of trauma every day through your memories, how you react to things, what triggers you, etc. Some of those random triggers can actually be trauma responses rooted in the past trauma that you may not have even been present for.
I’d love to help you, too. Click here to schedule your free 15- minute consultation for generational trauma therapy in Los Angeles, CA. My other specialties include treatment for anxiety trauma, childhood trauma, Complex PTSD, and improving the quality of relationships by examining your attachment style.
It is time to call and get help. You’ve waited long enough.
