Intergenerational trauma is trauma that you hold in your cellular memory that didn’t come from your direct experience but from the traumatic experiences of those in your family. However, in the case of intergenerational trauma, things can get a little tricky. Many people that have been through a traumatic experience find that working with a professional counselor can be helpful as it brings more awareness to their triggers. It’s hard to think logically and creatively, and focusing on anything other than what triggered your trauma response can be difficult. Psychologically, in a trauma response, your attention becomes narrowed on the threat. This may look like sudden onset of anxiety and fear accompanied by your heart rate speeding up along with more shallow breathing. In a trauma response, something in your environment triggers either a conscious or subconscious memory of the initial traumatic event, and you enter “fight or flight mode.” This is also known as your survival mode, and physiologically, it’s the activation of your sympathetic nervous system. However, many people experience “little t” traumas that can be harder to pin down but are still quite impactful – they can be referred to as developmental trauma you suffered at the hands of your parents or primary caregiver. These are what you would refer to as “Big T” traumas because they are severe enough that the root cause is obvious. For example, someone who was assaulted or someone who grew up in a war torn country where food and safety were never guaranteed, so as adults they tend to hoard and are unable to relax and feel calm. Trauma can mean a lot of different things, but at its core, a traumatic event is one that causes an intense emotional and physiological response that can be triggered well after the event has resolved. To understand intergenerational trauma, first, let’s examine what trauma is.
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