Key Takeaways
- The trauma that a person or group of people experience can be passed along to children and grandchildren in the form of transgenerational trauma.
- Transgenerational trauma leads to inherited trauma patterns such as insecure attachment, living in “survival mode,” anxiety, emotional numbness, and more. Children with inherited trauma can eventually adopt parenting styles that continue the cycle of trauma for their own kids.
- Transgenerational trauma is associated with veteran family trauma, especially among children of combat veterans.
- Holistic, veteran-centered professional care can help veterans and their families finally achieve whole-person healing from intergenerational trauma.
For many veterans and their families, there’s often something going on underneath the surface of unexplained emotional patterns, negative stress responses, or communication challenges. Inherited trauma patterns and transgenerational trauma can linger in the background, driving these personal difficulties. So how does transgenerational trauma occur, how can you recognize it in your family, and what can be done if you’re struggling with it yourself?
Understanding Transgenerational Trauma
Also known as intergenerational trauma or inherited trauma, transgenerational trauma involves the passing along of trauma’s effects from one generation to the next, according to EBSCO. In other words, trauma experienced by one person at one point in time can still be felt in that person’s children, grandchildren, and so on.
The ripple effect of transgenerational trauma usually occurs through genetics, learned behaviors, and experiences given to the new generation by the former. The new generation may find themselves navigating symptoms of trauma without knowing why, let alone experiencing trauma themselves.
Intergenerational trauma can arise from individual traumatic experiences impacting one person. Examples of individual trauma include:
- Life-threatening illness
- Accidents
- Family violence
- Childhood abuse
SOURCE: Medica Mondiale
On the other hand, intergenerational trauma can also arise out of collective trauma, or traumatic experiences that affect a group of people. Examples of collective trauma include:
- War
- The Holocaust of World War II
- The Rwandan genocide
SOURCE: Medical Mondiale
The Fallout: Inherited Trauma Patterns
According to Health.com, everyone is susceptible to transgenerational trauma, no matter if you served in the military or not. After all, a traumatic experience can happen to anyone, regardless of your demographics or circumstances. If your grandfather, mother, or father dealt with discrimination, a natural disaster, war, or adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), then it’s possible you still may be feeling those effects today as transgenerational trauma.
With that said, certain groups of people are particularly vulnerable to intergenerational trauma. Ethnic minorities who have a collective history of experiencing systemic racism, exploitation, abuse, and poverty can be at greater risk, such as African Americans and Indigenous communities.
But how does this transgenerational trauma get passed down to the next generation? When your parents or grandparents experienced a traumatic event, they learned to develop a trauma response as a way to cope and press on. This often placed them in survival mode. Yet as the effects of their trauma remained unaddressed, their survival mode or trauma response continued on long-term (and may still persist today).
When someone struggling with trauma has children of their own, those children experience their parent’s trauma response. Perhaps the parent verbally or physically abuses their child. Or the child regularly sees their mom or dad struggle with anxiety, depression, or relational insecurity and begins to adopt these tendencies themselves as inherited trauma patterns.
Inherited Trauma Patterns, Attachment, and Genetics
Inherited trauma patterns can lead to insecure attachment in the next generation. First developed in the person initially traumatized, this insecure attachment style is marked by relational difficulties and maladaptive beliefs about yourself and others, shares The Attachment Project.
In turn, the children of the traumatized parent may take on the same insecure attachment, fears, and fantasies as if they are their own. And eventually, when these children become parents themselves, they can pass along the same parenting styles that lead to insecure attachment in their own kids, shares Frontiers in Psychology.
Inherited trauma patterns can also occur on the biological level, not just the behavioral. Every human is born with certain genes within their DNA. When people experience trauma, genes that help them survive the experience and prepare for future challenges get activated.
According to Epigenomics, we can then pass these genes on to our descendants. However, this “survival mode” can continue to get genetically passed down to future generations as transgenerational trauma, shares Social Science & Medicine. Those who experience inherited trauma can also have an increased risk of diseases like anxiety and depression, shares the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The Prevalence of Veteran Family Trauma
Considering the origins of transgenerational trauma, veterans and military families may find themselves squarely in its crosshairs. Veteran family trauma is already a common experience among military communities, after all. According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), seven out of every 100 veterans will have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point in their lives.
When veterans continue to carry the traumas of combat and war back home after deployment, these traumas can impact their families. Like a virus, veteran family trauma can spread horizontally to the current generation (such as spouses, siblings, etc.), as well as vertically to children and grandchildren as inherited trauma.
According to Uniformed Services University, studies have shown that a number of challenges can be passed along to children of combat veterans as transgenerational trauma, including:
- Stress
- Low self-esteem
- Impaired interpersonal functioning
- Heightened alertness
- Increased vulnerability to self-medication
- Emotional numbing
- Perceived overall impaired functioning of the family
Looking at the consequences above, it’s easy to see why the impact of trauma could continue on down the line of future descendants. Even though children of combat veterans haven’t witnessed the traumatic events that led to their veteran mom or dad’s PTSD, the family impact of PTSD can leave its mark. Whether it’s stories shared about war, or unspoken observations of the parent’s body language, behavior, or anxiety-ridden silence associated with war-related situations, the next generation can soon experience that veteran family trauma, too.
Recognizing Transgenerational Trauma Symptoms
Perhaps this all feels relevant as you’re reading this. As a veteran, maybe you’ve seen your own children or grandchildren struggle with what could be intergenerational trauma. Or maybe you recall your own experiences as a son or daughter of a military veteran. If you have concerns, it’s important to learn to recognize the signs and symptoms of transgenerational trauma in your family, such as:
- A lack of self-worth
- Anxiety
- Feeling detached from yourself and your surroundings (called depersonalization)
- Depression
- Emotional numbness
- Struggling to manage your time, make decisions, or think critically
- Experiencing PTSD symptoms (social isolation, negative thoughts, losing interest in enjoyable activities, etc.)
SOURCE: Health.com
What if you think that you or your family may be struggling with inherited veteran family trauma? It’s first important to know that the issue is not your fault. The trauma you’re experiencing is not a personal failing on your part. Intergenerational trauma is a clinical, emotional, and relational issue, much bigger than any one person. However, you can play a part in helping your family heal from it.
Trauma-Informed Care for Veterans and Their Families
If you or your family are navigating the effects of unresolved transgenerational trauma, know that lasting recovery is possible. With holistic professional support, your entire family can achieve healing and end the continuous cycle of veteran family trauma from generation to generation.
At Defining Wellness Centers in Mississippi, we’re leading the way in trauma-informed care for military veterans and their families. Our Rally Point treatment program is specifically designed to address the unique needs of veterans. Offering personalized, veteran-focused treatment, our compassionate, expert team can help you achieve whole-person healing from your trauma, as well as co-occurring disorders like addiction, PTSD, and other mental health conditions.
Beyond direct veteran care, we also offer a comprehensive family program at Defining Wellness for families of veterans to find healing from transgenerational trauma themselves. If you’re ready to overcome the trauma that’s defined your family, call our team today to get started. Your future generations will thank you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?
PTSD is a mental health disorder that arises out of experiencing a disturbing or extremely stressful event or series of events. Alternatively, PTSD can also occur after witnessing such an event happen to someone else. It’s associated with major anxiety, flashbacks of the traumatic event, nightmares, avoidance, and persistent thoughts about the traumatic experience. These symptoms may continue on for months or years without professional treatment.
Why is it important for veterans to get specialized, veteran-specific care?
There are many barriers to care that make it difficult for veterans to get the right treatment to heal from trauma, mental health struggles, or addiction. At the same time, veterans and active duty military have unique needs that aren’t common to civilian life.
Certain clinics and providers may not have the proper knowledge and experience required to address these specific needs. However, treatment centers that specialize in veteran care have licensed clinicians trained in military culture and trauma-informed care. As a result, they can help veterans overcome any treatment barriers and actually achieve the lasting healing they deserve.