DEALING WITH TRAUMA, Part 2

September 1, 2022 Buffalo Latino Village

In the last edition of this column, I promised tools and strategies on how to manage and heal from trauma. Reflecting on how trauma has pervaded across communities and families has prompted me to alter my course of prose to further educate and thus place us all in a better place to deal with trauma in our lives, workplaces, schools, and families. There is indeed individual trauma but also scientists have agreed that generational, intergenerational, and historical trauma exists, and the effects can be devastating to not only those afflicted but our society. Consideration for this serious vein of research has prompted this education on how trauma affects us first with the strategies to manage trauma symptoms to follow.

Science reveals that trauma can be passed down from one trauma survivor to another. It can affect descendants more than one generation apart. It can also be referred to as transgenerational or multigenerational trauma. People experiencing intergenerational trauma may experience symptoms, reactions, patterns, and emotional and psychological effects from trauma experienced by previous generations. These previous generations are not limited to just parents and grandparents. They experience trauma symptoms and trauma responses from events that did not occur to them; rather, the response is inherited genetically.

Those affected by intergenerational trauma might experience symptoms like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including anxiety, hypervigilance, stress reactions, and mood disorders. However, because the individual did not directly experience the trauma themselves, they will not experience flashbacks or intrusive memories. Stress responses are linked to more physical complaints, intergenerational trauma can also manifest as medical issues including heart disease, stroke, or early death.

If our parents or grandparents experienced trauma, their DNA coded itself to have a survival response that helped them get through those events, which then passed down through generations. This “survival mode” remains encoded and passed down for multiple generations in the absence of additional trauma.

Some genes are dormant when we are born but activate based on our environment. When we experience trauma, our DNA responds by activating genes to help us survive stressful circumstances. These genes stay activated to assist us in future dangerous situations. We then pass these genes onto our offspring to prepare them for possible traumatic events. When genes are primed for stressful or traumatic events, they respond with greater resilience to those events, but this constant state of anticipating danger is stressful. The trade-off of being constantly prepared to keep us safe increases our body’s stress levels and impacts our mental and physical health over time.