What Is Inherited Trauma & How Is It Created?
WE UNCONCIOUSLY RECEIVE MUCH FROM OUR FAMILIES
We tend to think of ourselves as individuals, each with a unique ability to make choices and create situations of our own.
In practice, many of the repeat patterns of behaviour, ways of handling situations or frustrations we find ourselves in aren’t simply by chance, but are driven by invisible family behaviours and dynamics that originate much further back.
These can unconciously influence our choices and outcomes without us being fully aware of them.
THE TRAUMA WE INHERIT
Whether from our parents, great grandparents or further back, difficult events that affect individuals in our families leave their mark on those that come after.
For example, a fractious relationship dynamic between two distant grandparents.
A century ago, when marriage wasn’t as it is today, some entered it without having much agency over their choice. The dynamics lived out in a fraught marriage, can create a ‘behavioural stamp’ that is passed down to the generations that come after. These behaviours then repeat themselves and have impacts long beyond those who were alive to see them being created.
Despite our best wishes to find a happy, fulfilling relationship, we can live out old patterns that no longer make sense for the situations we find ourselves in today.
SITUATIONS THAT CAN CREATE INHERITED FAMILY TRAUMA
Life is unique, and the possible events that can lead to trauma in a family line are as varied as life itself. Here are some examples of what we see commonly in our work, which tend to leave ‘behavioural stamps’ for those in subsequent generations:
War & Persecution
Children / Siblings Who Were Lost
Mental, Physical & Sexual Abuse
Excluded Family Members
Land and Homes That Were Forcibly Taken
Undisclosed Family Secrets
Accidental or Intended Deaths
Cultural Or Religiously Sanctioned Traumas
Fraught Relationship Dynamics In And Out Of Marriage
Destructive Sibling Rivalries
Injustice
Unjust Inheritance
Infidelity
Unjust Loss Or Gain At Others’ Expense
This list is far from exhaustive but includes some of the factors that lead to inherited trauma that presents as unhelpful behaviour, thoughts and compulsions.