In last two decades since the human genome was first fully sequenced, the idea any individual who undergoes extreme stress is susceptible to pass on these epigenetics to genetic offspring has received widespread media and scientific attention, however the effect is difficult to separate from environmental and cultural transmission and conclusive evidence that it can occur has yet to be found. Since then, transgenerational trauma has been noted amongst descendants of African-Americans forced into slavery, Native American genocide survivors, war survivors, refugees, survivors of domestic violence, and many other groups that have experienced collective distress. The grandchildren of Holocaust survivors were overrepresented by 300% among the referrals to a psychiatry clinic in comparison with their representation in the general population. In 1966, psychologists began to observe large numbers of children of Holocaust survivors seeking mental help in clinics in Canada. Intergenerational trauma was first recognized in the children of Holocaust survivors. This field of research is relatively young, but has been expanded since the mid-2000s. While transgenerational trauma made headlines in the mid-2000s, it has been met with skepticism and criticism from some scientists. This is a novel area of research and given the complexity of issues surrounding trauma and the human experience, the relative contributions of epigenetics, cultural, and social factors will be challenging to elucidate. The mechanism for transmission of trauma may be via epigenetic modifications introduced by stress, passed down via environmental or cultural conditions. Descendants of survivors may experience extreme stress, leading to a variety of other consequences. For example, survivors of individual child abuse and both direct survivors of the collective trauma and members of subsequent generations individually may develop complex post-traumatic stress disorder.Įxamples of this include collective trauma experienced by descendants of the Atlantic slave trade segregation and Jim Crow laws in the United States apartheid in South Africa the Scramble for Africa, Jewish Holocaust survivors and other members of the Jewish community at the time by the First Peoples of Canada during the Canadian Indian residential school system and in Australia, the Stolen Generations and other hardships inflicted on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It can also be applied to single families or individual parent–child dyads. Transgenerational trauma can be a collective experience that affects groups of people who share a cultural identity (e.g., ethnicity, nationality, or religious identity). For example, if Jewish people experience extreme stress or practice survivalism out of fear of another Holocaust, despite being born after the Holocaust, then they are experiencing transgenerational trauma. When this collective trauma affects subsequent generations, it is called transgenerational trauma. For example, collective trauma was experienced by Jewish Holocaust survivors and other members of the Jewish community at the time, by the Indigenous Peoples of Canada during the Canadian Indian residential school system and by black Americans who were enslaved. Ĭollective trauma is when psychological trauma experienced by communities and identity groups is carried on as part of the group's collective memory and shared sense of identity. The term intergenerational transmission refers to instances whereby the traumatic effects are passed down from the directly traumatized generation to their offspring, and transgenerational transmission is when the offspring then pass the effects down to descendants who have not been exposed to the initial traumatic event - at least the grandchildren of the original sufferer for males, and their great-grandchildren for females. The primary modes of transmission are the uterine environment during pregnancy causing epigenetic changes in the developing embryo, and the shared family environment of the infant causing psychological, behavioral and social changes in the individual. Transgenerational trauma is the psychological and physiological effects that the trauma experienced by people has on subsequent generations in that group. ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) WikiProject Genetics may be able to help recruit an expert. The specific problem is: The article contains multiple pseudoscientific claims, such as that dance therapy can change someone's DNA. This article needs attention from an expert in genetics.
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