Multigenerational trauma: It did not start with you, but it must end with you

Abstract

Dear Sir, People often encounter some or other traumas across their life cycle stages and not aware of how it could affect their life, other generations. The transmission of trauma from the survivors to their children subsequently affects the next generations as well. Thus, the impact of the trauma that can exist across the generations is called multi-generational trauma (MGT). Hence this MGT impact is not only restricted to the current generation.[1] This is also called intergenerational or transgenerational trauma. Many things get passed down through families subsequent generations from those who directly experience trauma, and it can be inherited too. It can impact on various domains among the trauma survivors such as biological, psychological, social, and vocational functioning. MGT can be transmitted as hushed, concealed, and undefined, surfacing through involuntarily, or implied through someone’s life. The MGT may stem from personal trauma such as child abuse or domestic abuse. The other causes could be drug addiction or alcohol addiction or any substance addiction, child neglect, refugees, war-related trauma, and other natural disasters.[2] Untreated mental illness and other significant social issues such as poverty, unemployment, homelessness, and child labor also cause for the MGT. The MGT occurs when parents unintentionally pass their trauma down to their children. Negative psych of abuse can lead to repeated traumas from generation to generation, if parents have unresolved traumas, they may develop negative coping mechanisms and they pass onto their children. Trauma can also be passed down through your genes; specifically through epigenetics is the way that your genetic code is expressed. It is very crucial to identify and seek appropriate help from the health-care professionals to address the issues associated with the traumas, and thus, it can prevent the MGT. Otherwise which not only affects the survivor psychosocial-vocational functioning adversely but also the next generations. The impact of MGT can be at various levels such as individual, family, and community level. At individual level, the effects would be developing anxiety, depression, insomnia, anger, and fear. It can impact on the self-esteem and efficacy of the survivor, and it can impact on the social functioning and vocational functioning of the trauma survivor. They tend to be isolated themselves from the community and high levels of the social withdrawal behavior will be noticed. The individuals who experience MGT are at high risk of developing the behavioral, emotional problems, and substance abuse. The behavioral problems are frequent lying, truancy, physical aggression, trust issues, and self-injurious behavior. The emotional problems are such as isolation, sadness, helplessness, anxiety, and hopelessness. The MGT can be impacted on the family level as well, and the effects would be continued financial constraints, high noise levels in the family, and poor cohesiveness among the family members. The MGT can even impact on the societies such as inequality in socioeconomic condition, decline in the economic growth, social development, and compromise in delivering the social welfare activities. Considering the impact of MGT among individuals and their families, it is important to explore their psychosocial vocational needs. Providing the tailor-made psychosocial interventions to the survivors timely is the need of the hour. MGT has compounding exponential effect on families and their well-being; hence, preventing the multigenerational transmission of trauma is essential. Preventive strategies include providing interventions at individual, family, and community levels which requires a multisystemic approach.[3] Both the trauma survivors and their children will be benefitted from the following psychosocial interventions which have mentioned in Table 1.Table 1: Psychosocial interventions for the trauma survivorsThus, for both the individuals and their families who are experiencing the MGT, their well-being can be improved with psycho-social interventions. These interventions also enhances their psychological, social, and vocational functioning, and reduces the impact of trauma on the upcoming generations. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.