intergenerational trauma
Ancestral pain passed down
Intergenerational trauma is psychological damage passed from one generation to the next—the lasting effects of severe hardship experienced by parents or grandparents that shape their descendants' emotional lives.
The concept emerged from studies of Holocaust survivors' children and now applies broadly: intergenerational trauma from slavery, the intergenerational trauma of residential schools.
The transmission may be behavioral, through parenting patterns, or possibly biological through stress-related changes.
- genocideSystematic annihilation of a people
- PTSDChronic reaction to horrific events
- survivor guiltDistress from enduring when others perished
- colonizationForeign territorial takeover
- epigeneticsHeritable expression changes, sequence intact
attachment disorders · collective memory · family separation · learned helplessness · storytelling traditions · inner child · psychoeducation · mindfulness practices · residential schools · boarding schools · cultural genocide · forced migration · family dynamics · inherited · reconciliation · anxiety · systemic racism · depression
- family dynamicsfamily dynamics, family roles, family therapy, sibling rivalry, parenting
- family generationsgenerations, grandparents, grandchildren, grandparent, grandchild
- Indigenous CanadaFirst Nations, Metis, Inuit, Cree, Ojibwe
- traumaabuse, abandonment, acute stress, amnesia, attachment disorder
- family therapyfamily therapy, family counseling, family dynamics, marriage therapy, relationship counseling
- Indigenous PolicyIndian Act, treaty negotiations, land claims, consultation, inherent rights
intergenerational traumaancestral wisdom
Insight from prior generations
intergenerational wealth · post-traumatic growth · family legacy · cultural inheritance · family traditions
intergenerational traumafamily harmony
Peaceful coexistence among relatives
intergenerational traumalived experience
Knowledge from personal participation