TRIGGER WARNING: The following is a discussion on generational trauma and may be triggering to some. I tried to blur what I think would be the most triggering phrases but please read at your own discretion.
There’s no one right way to do ancestral work, but most of us want to heal some of our ancestral trauma (also known as transgenerational trauma). We have to understand ancestral trauma, identify our ancestral trauma, and actively work to heal what we can.
To understand ancestral trauma, we have to understand how we became who we are. Newborns don’t have a blank slate, as some people think. While a woman is still in her mother’s womb, all her eggs form in the ovaries. Basically, your mom carried the egg that became you while she was in your grandmother’s womb. Her environment and emotions will affect you. Besides my dad’s hazel eyes and mom’s short stature, I’m also inheriting the family story and worldview.
The effects of ancestral trauma don’t end with the individual but keep spreading through generations. Families that have unresolved trauma, depression, anxiety, and addiction may continue to pass on maladaptive coping strategies. Regardless of whether they’re healthy or not, we keep repeating previous generations’ patterns and attitudes.
Everyone can be affected by generational trauma, and some say we all have some to varying degrees. High-risk families are those that have experienced abuse, neglect, torture, oppression, and racial discrimination. Trauma itself can lead to poverty, compromised parenting, diminished attachments, chronic stress, and unstable living environments, which negatively impact kids. Epigenetics is the study of how environmental influences affect the expression of genes. Remember the debate about nature vs nurture? Our growth and development are affected by both. During development, our DNA accumulates a bunch of chemical markers that control how much our genes are expressed. Chemical markers are changed by the different experiences children have, which are then passed on.
It’s challenging to identify trauma passed down from generation to generation. It’s often hidden as hypervigilance, mistrust, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and other negative coping mechanisms. All of these things can affect our health, causing physical problems.
A major part of my ancestral trauma comes from my Irish ancestors. Ireland was ravaged by the Great Famine from 1845 to 1852. The Famine and its effects forever changed the island’s demographic, political, and cultural landscapes. There were about one million deaths and more than one million refugees. The majority of these people emigrated to North America. They settled in Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Kingston, Hamilton, and Saint John in Canada; Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore in the US. England, Scotland, and South Wales were popular places to emigrate short distances. Even some Irish fled to Australia.
Anti-Irish sentiment was brewing in Britain and the US around this time. Irish people were stereotyped as violent and alcoholic. They targeted Irish laborers in particular. Local American and Irish laborers fought over jobs, causing riots. Signs and ads saying “No Irish Need Apply” were everywhere. The UK had signs saying “No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs” post-World War II.
How did this turn into generational trauma? During centuries of English oppression and colonialism, there were many mechanisms of tight control, including physical force, sexual exploitation, economic exploitation, political exclusion, and cultural control. There was a deep psychological legacy left behind by these mechanisms, which led to dependency, fear, suppression of anger and rage, a sense of inferiority, self-hatred, horizontal violence, and psychological vulnerability.
Frank McCourt wrote in “The Irish Americans”:
We are expected to suffer retroactively, we are told then, and we know it now; the famine was the worst thing ever to happen to the Irish race; (oh) the psychological effects of hunger, how it breaks you, how it hinders any emotional development.
A similar theme can be found in Thomas Keneally’s book “The Great Shame”:
The Irish famine has produced in the Irish themselves a certain amount of survival shame: the irrational but sharp shame of still standing when so many fell, the shame of having been rendered less than human by cataclysm.
It’ll take some hard work and tears to break this cycle. It is helpful to open up communication with your parents about their lived experiences and how they coped. You can identify any embedded patterns, attitudes, or narratives from your family by doing some self-reflection. Think about alternative methods of coping and communication with a trusted friend, family member, or professional. Developing empathy and compassion for our families and their struggles is critical. Some of our ancestors worked hard to give us a better life, despite their flaws. Last but not least, if you have kids, think about what you want them to believe about their family, themselves, and the world.
I’m mainly of Irish descent, coming from my father’s side & have read on many subjects that were practices that could contribute to ancestral trauma.
