Generational Trauma

3.2

Here's the definition of generational trauma from AI; "the phenomenon where the traumatic experienced by one generation can be passed down and affect the mental and emotional well-being of subsequent generations, even if they did not directly experience the traumatic event themselves; essentially, the effects of trauma ripple through a family lineage, impacting behaviors and patterns across generations."

Because we know trauma can actually rewire your brain, without intervention before having children, that wiring will be passed down to them. Couple that with trauma causing different behavioral patters, now we've created a new generation with an unknown trauma they didn't have so don't know how to deal with it.

I think this is why we see an increase in Gen Y and Gen Z having anxiety issues. Gen X not wanting our kids to go through what we did compounded the issue with the "everyone gets a trophy" parenting. I'm not trying to blame Gen X, just stating my opinion as I see it so we can understand. I'm guilty of this to a point myself.

The other side is continuing that same abusive behavior to our kids. The thought process behind that is because that's all we know, even if we know it's wrong. For me when my daughter would act up as a child, it was so hard for me to control my anger and not want to "beat" her. I know that's a harsh set of words, but when you have deep inner anger that I didn't realize I had, I would get so furious over everything.

When I was this angry, it did not dawn on me that if I did hit her I would be putting her through the same torture that I experienced. In my mind, she deserved it for misbehaving.

Thank goodness, my husband was opposite of me, having a no hit rule and I somehow found the strength to walk away. It would take me hours to come down off that anger and there were times I had to leave the house to be able to cool down.

I knew I was angry but I didn't look inside, to me it was her fault or when I was mad at my husband, it was his fault and only their fault.

This is why I continue to express the importance of addressing your trauma and exploring emotional intelligence.