Intergenerational Trauma

The term intergenerational trauma refers to the residual impact of a traumatic event that is transmitted across generations through storytelling and behavioral and relational patterns. As a background to the discussion of intergenerational trauma, the basic definitions of psychological trauma, mass trauma, and collective trauma are explained.

Psychological trauma refers to a significant and out-of-the-ordinary experience in which those involved feel helpless and powerless. When a victim is overwhelmed by an event, he or she cannot carry out the automatic “fight-or-flight” response, but instead feels paralyzed. Individual experiences of trauma are often kept secret, for example in cases of childhood sexual abuse, incest, sexual assault, or out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Hence, the traumatic experience may be associated with self-blame, shame and embarrassment, or self-hatred.

Mass trauma is a significant, frightening, and usually life-threatening event experienced by a large number of people simultaneously. The group may be directly involved in the event or be exposed to it from a distance. Some examples are: (1) natural disasters such as earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, floods, tornados, and mudslides; (2) transportation disasters involving planes, trains, buses, or ships; (3) [Page 575]technology-related disasters such as industrial and chemical accidents or nuclear events; (4) shootings, kidnappings, and hostage situations; (5) terrorism; and (6) spacecraft disasters. These events tend to leave a long-standing fear of the immediate surroundings where the disaster or attack took place. Other results of massive trauma are decreased use of collective transportation and avoidance of living in specific geographic areas.

Collective social trauma relates to specifically man-made events, usually at the hands of the state or a powerful group. Over long periods of time, individuals or groups carry out specific, intermittent activities with the intent of infiltrating or obliterating the functioning of another group, usually a less powerful one, hence depleting it of its social influence. At times, the functioning of an entire society or segment of society is altered or destroyed. The legacy of a lengthy civil war, in which the civil population has been politically and/or religiously divided, is one example. The significant event devastates everyday rituals and the systems of care that people associate with their identity, thus depriving them of their sense of control, connection, and meaning in life.

An Afghan child in a Kabul trauma center represents a new generation of Afghans suffering under Taliban oppression.

Examples of events that have produced collective trauma include the colonization and genocide of First Nations people, warfare and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, and slavery in Africa and the Americas. For instance, Bosnian mothers who survived ethnic cleansing report high rates of depression, recurrent nightmares, and somatic symptoms due to the loss of the traditional family structure as well as specific traumas, and some describe persistent difficulties in resuming their mothering role.