Understanding Inherited Trauma
by Michelle Seguin
May 26, 2022

Inherited trauma is the belief that trauma can be passed on from one generation to the next. It is believed that trauma can be inherited from previous generations because if there was a trauma experienced that was not dealt with, it is believed that it changes the gene. It does not mean that our ancestors’ genes were damaged, but it is the assumption that their genes were altered from the trauma and now affect how the gene functions.

With this methodology, it also means then that the gene remains in an altered state until the trauma is resolved or neutralized, and the gene then is able to go back and function as it was meant to function.

A good way to describe this is to think of an unfertilized egg, you are already sharing a cellular environment with your mother and grandmother. Imagine that your grandmother was already five months pregnant with your mom, the precursor cell of the egg you developed from is already in your mother’s ovaries. This shows that you, your mom and your grandmother were all in the same biological environment at one time.

If you look at it from your father’s perspective, the precursor cells of the sperm you were created from were already present when he was a fetus in his mother.

In either case, the egg and sperm cells can then be affected by traumas that occurred to your grandmother on either side. The difference though between the egg and sperm is that the cells of the egg stopped dividing as soon as it was formed in your grandmother’s womb. However, your father’s sperm continued to multiply when he reached puberty. So, in both cases, the cells in the egg or the sperm continued to be imprinted by traumas that occurred to each grandmother, mother and father. However, the sperm, because it continues to multiply, can be imprinted by trauma right up until you are conceived.

If your mother, for example, has a tough pregnancy and is having constant emotions such as fear or anger, she is more likely to preprogram the cells of the infant making it more difficult for the infant to adapt to its environment. The cells are basically getting preprogrammed for a fight or flight environment and therefore once the child is born is more susceptible to become reactive to similarly stressful situations the mother had experienced while pregnant.

While in the womb, our initial blueprint is created and then once born, the first nine months of our lives is a continuation of the neural development that was created while still in the womb. It will determine what parts of the blueprint remain and which parts are discarded. The first nine months outside the womb also organize each part of the initial blueprint based on the infant’s experiences and interactions with the mother/caregiver once outside the womb.

The above is the basis for having a better understanding of inherited trauma. Now to better understand, take this and look at it as your grandmother being in the infant spot and the trauma that was passed to her from previous generations. This whole theory is a very vast concept to understand. The cell change can pass on to some, but not necessarily all future offspring and therefore, you may even carry emotions from uncles or aunts of your grandparents, parents or even further back.

As an example, I had an uncle that came back from World War II that told stories of the atrocities he had seen. One of the stories he told was of being trapped by the Germans in a large area where it was all pig manure with what was left of his platoon. They all buried themselves in the pig manure to try and keep from being caught by the Germans. They had to pretend they were dead as the Germans were walking through that area. Each time one of his platoon members showed any sign of life and the Germans seen it, they were killed immediately. This went on for days. He was finally able to escape. Once home, he told his brothers, sisters and parents about that incident and others. This, for me, is when the genes of either my grandpa (his brother) or my grandma were altered.

Even though I never heard the story from his mouth, even though I only met him once or twice before he passed. Each time Uncle Jim’s name was brought up I got this huge feeling of fear and sadness. The cells that I was created from had held on to some of that trauma and thus was passed on to me. As I have worked though my trauma and was learning and looking at inherited trauma, I called my mom and talked to her. She actually told me the whole story as I had previously only heard bits and pieces. As I sat there and listened to her talk about it, the fear and sadness were the first to come and then the tears. This was an unusual feeling for me as how could I have so many emotions around an incident that I had only ever heard bits and pieces from. When in reality, what was happening is that I was feeling the fear and sadness he felt. I was experiencing that trauma.

In doing that and really working through the trauma and learning how to properly release and neutralize the emotions around that, I no longer have that deep fear, like to the core fear feeling within me.

The healing part of the inherited trauma that I have worked on has been eye opening and at the same time, I feel like I am able to now let my Uncle Jim rest in peace.

Inherited trauma is not something to be scared of, but rather, it is a way of us healing previous generations while at the same time healing future generations.

If you would like further information or have questions around inherited trauma, please feel free to email mseguin@peacefulconnections.ca or reach out on Facebook.

 

Oh hello! I am Michelle Seguin

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