All sorts of things can get passed down through families generationally, physical characteristics, personality traits, genetic conditions, and in some cases trauma can also be inherited.

Fascinating isn’t it. Now there is still a stack of research that needs to happen to really clarify exactly how this happens and how it all works. But at the moment there are theories around it occurring through in-utero exposure to things like stress hormones and also trauma being passed down and activated through epigenetics.

If you think of it from an evolutionary perspective, because our brains are hardwired to keep us safe, for our survival we are passing down what our brains/bodies think are essential survival traits, but is actually trauma… Humans are a very clever species, but we all still have these primitive survival instincts that happen on autopilot unless we do some work essentially rewire those instinctual responses and make changes in our life around the things that trigger those responses.

Listen along to this fascinating and often forgotten part of the trauma experience.