Intergenerational Trauma & Epigenetics: Part 2:
Let’s continue this subject and start with the positive effects of the experience of trauma; we tend to become more compassionate and understanding of others.
Many people who have gone through trauma tend not to speak of it, but speaking about it would help others….to understand. In our society, we don’t always know what to say or how to help. Often, it’s just basic; ask someone to tell you about their trauma, pain, etc. It’s better to ask and listen than to ignore. Just asking if there’s something you could do for them.
It’s so helpful to those who have undergone intergenerational or any trauma to have someone to listen and empathize. Survivors of this trauma and generations after may have markers on their DNA (epigenetics), making them more prone to PTSD and a higher stress response…and they usually don’t know why. It’s hard to name this trauma……..and it’s so important that we start talking about it more, as individuals and certainly, as a society.
Dr Rachel Yehuda has helped to bring these subjects to light…and it’s vital. The more we understand, the more we can be there and understand others.
As a society, we need the TOOLS; so we know how to treat others, particularly those who have experienced trauma. Not everything is conscious and traumatized people don’t always understand the way they’re behaving. Let’s try to understand the person in front of us, even when they’re not acting exactly as you’d like them to….
This concept of intergenerational trauma can be hard to really comprehend because our ‘old view’ of continual stress explained us acting in a less-than-perfect way. But we didn’t really understand why an event or experience from the past would continue to affect us, in the present….especially a generation or more after the traumatic event occurred. This is, so far, our understanding of intergenerational trauma and how it helps place ‘markers’ on our DNA (like on and off switches) and how it creates several symptoms.
The SCIENCE of INTERGENERATIONAL TRAUMA:
According to Dr Rachel Yehuda, neuroscience, in the 1970’s and 1980’s, recognized “that there were stress receptors in the brain. And what that meant was that the brain wasn’t barking orders at peripheral tissue like the adrenal gland; there was a dialogue going on. It wasn’t just the brain regulating everything. It was an ability of stress hormones to circle back and influence how the brain functioned”.
Fascinating stuff; another example of the body/mind connection.
Continuing research found that stress hormones play a really critical role in how the brain develops and how behavior develops.
Dr Yehuda returned to her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio and back to her old neighborhood and started studying Holocaust survivors and their children (called 2G: second generation). She found a similar cortisol profile in them that one would find in Vietnam veterans who had PTSD.
She then worked at the VA (Veteran’s Administration) and started to look at the biology of PTSD.
She found lots of similarities between Vietnam vets and Holocaust survivors. They had low cortisol levels; some of the same chemical (biological) markers were there.
Presently, the field of epigenetics is being shaped. Epigenetics is the idea that not only do experiences lodge physiologically (in the body), but that physiological changes can actually be passed on to the next generation---transmitted generationally, trans-generationally.
One helpful way that Dr Yehuda talks about epigenetics: “Think about genetics as the computer and epigenetics as the software, the app, the program.”
So what they’re learning is that epigenetics is a mechanism for short-term adaptation; that even a change to the ‘program’ can happen quickly, and it’s all around this trauma, so that trauma itself gets inherited.
Even though a trauma survivor or their children have the same DNA, the environmental influence has been so overwhelming that it has forced a major constitutional change, and enduring transformation. And epigenetics gives us the language and the science to start unpacking that….
PTSD and complex-PTSD:
PTSD describes a stress related disorder following exposure to a traumatic event. The acronym, PTSD: post-traumatic stress disorder, is used today for mid-term or longer lasting trauma symptoms usually caused by one or two unrelated big T traumas (ie: war combat, sexual abuse, car accident, traumatic operation or physical procedure, natural disaster, being in a terrorist incident, sudden loss of a close loved one).
Complex-PTSD:
c-PTSD is PTSD which is more complex. Trauma was experienced over a significant period of time without a chance of escape and usually as part of an interpersonal relationship whilst developing in childhood.
c-PTSD might have the same symptoms as PTSD but with additional symptoms, such as: feeling permanently damaged, feeling shame, feeling ineffective, feeling under constant threat (hyperarousal), withdrawing socially, despair, hostility and feeling different in terms of the person that they were before experiencing the trauma. Some may also experience serious disturbance in self-organization, like: affect regulation, perception of self, a negative self-concept and dysfunction in managing interpersonal relationships.
This is the ICD-11 classifications for PTSD and complex-PTSD:
PTSD: Complex-PTSD:
-sense of threat - interpersonal disturbance
-persistent avoidance of thoughts, feelings, people -negative self-concept
& places
-re-experiencing -affect dysregulation
-hyperarousal -sense of threat
-avoidance
-re-experiencing
One of the main differences between PTSD & c-PTSD is the cause. As previously stated, PTSD might be caused by a one off big-T trauma. C-PTSD is often caused by trauma which was repeated over a significant period of time where escape was impeded or not possible (ie: as an infant or child). It’s often experienced as part of a close interpersonal relationship which influenced a person’s development. Experiencing trauma in childhood has more of a negative impact because we’re still developing and growing psychologically as well as physically. This might mean that we experience trauma as part of daily life. This may make recovery more complex because it has become the norm for a person rather than the exception. Therefore, finding homeostasis (getting back to center or balance) means developing a new sense of self.
With PTSD, we know what the feeling of homeostasis or normal is like. With complex-PTSD, we might not.
With both, there is often self-loathing and this is what makes it particularly difficult.
Causes of COMPLEX-PTSD:
-neglect, sexual abuse, emotional abuse or physical abuse in childhood.
-if the trauma was caused by a parent or caregiver.
-traumatic events experienced in early life.
-if the person experienced the trauma on their own.
-if the person who experienced the trauma is still in contact with the person who caused the trauma.
The experiences and effects of PTSD and complex-PTSD may cause intergenerational or transgenerational trauma transmission.
If you have suffered the often-painful effects and symptoms of PTSD or complex-PTSD, first of all, know that you’re not alone. There are many of us in the group (hand raised here).
Second, ask for help. Reach out for professional help.
From someone who gets it, complex-PTSD can take quite some time to figure out and get to healing but it can happen and you CAN do it! Please contact me if you have questions, comments or need referrals.
In the next blog post, we’ll talk about the next developments in the field of intergenerational trauma and about healing trauma. There is hope!
The good news: those of us with PTSD & c-PTSD become people who can help and have a big impact on helping others. Most of the good in the world is done by those who have had adversity………..remember this!
With smiles and love,
Dr Gigi
PS: Reach out with questions, comments, referrals at the social media sites below and/or sign up for your Clarity call @www.gigiarnaud.com
We are lucky to be living at a time when the newer fields of intergenerational trauma and epigenetics are developing……and at a fast pace. When I was a kid, there were no terms or explanations for what we felt and ‘knew’ deep inside. There is hope; no need for despair. You are not alone. Please reach out!
Sending you much love😊
Change your Thoughts, Change your Mind, Change your World