Personally, I have found naming and acknowledging ancestral trauma somehow "sets it free". I suppose the respectful and compassionate validation of the inhumane, unjust, unimaginable experience somehow breaks the "spell".
Trauma is defined as sensations and emotions that are NORMAL reactions to ABNORMAL events. It is the “left-over survival energy” from an incomplete stress response to a horrible event. The left-over survival energy is stored in both the mind (brain and nervous system) AND THE BODY. And it also disrupts our mental AND physical well-being. This left-over energy can be expressed as fear, shame, guilt, etc. and can manifest as heart disease, obesity, addiction, self-harm.
Continuous exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences contributes to complexPTSD or cPTSD. In this situation the adverse experiences are daily and have been normalized.
Is There Trauma In Your Family ?
Image by Maharani Faleiro based on questionaire from
https://lindsaybraman.com/Comparing the inventory traumatic events with that of adverse childhood experiences reveals a great deal of overlap and helps to explain why inter-generational trauma is widespread.
Abuse or domestic violence.
Active combat for self or a family member. Addiction.
Death of a child.
Divorce.
Estrangement from a loved one.
Experiencing hate crimes, racism, or stigmatization.
Extended unemployment.
Immigration to a new country.
Living through a war fought in their homeland. Loss of a significant piece of their cultural heritage.
Miscarriage or stillborn child.
Poverty.
Sexual violence.
Family secrets are another indication of family trauma.
All of these events are so common that they have been normalized and accepted (or denied) by society. Yet they are traumatic and have a great impact on our well-being and future generations. All humans have been shaped by such events.
Inter-generational Trauma is trauma that is passed on from one generation to the next. This occurs by several different mechanisms including
- changes to the DNA (epigenetic)
2. behavioural,
3. physiological,
4. belief systems.
Below are some resources that explain this further.
How can we heal intergenerational trauma?
Personally, I have found naming and acknowledging ancestral trauma somehow “sets it free”. I suppose the respectful and compassionate validation of the inhumane, unjust, unimaginable experience somehow breaks the “spell”.
AND I also do what I can to name such experiences now in this lifetime so that people can know that it is trauma and that there is someone who sees them and hears their trauma. We heal in relationship to each other.
For sure the secrets and lies and unspoken can obscure the truths. But the truth somehow makes itself known.
It can be an all-of-a -sudden knowing of something that resonates as truth even if it seems unbelievable.
Or it will be all the fragments of unspoken fall into place. I simply accept these as truths. The (ancestral) body remembers …
Each of us can use what privileges we have to heal ourselves in our own unique path. As we do this for ourselves, we also invite others to heal as well. Together, we can promote the inter-generational healing that @Britchida so beautifully expresses in their depiction of families trees that transform trauma (red) to healing (blue) above. [Image shared with permission]
31 May 2021. Lightly edited 3 July 2026
Please reach out if you would like to explore mentorship for intergenerational healing.
