Healing Inherited Wounds: Transgenerational Trauma Therapy

Unresolved traumas can be carried over into the next generations, leading to symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Through studies of children and grandchildren of individuals traumatized by war, as well as by the Holocaust, we grew aware of this phenomenon. On the one hand, the transmission may take place through interaction, which is directly influenced by the traumatic experience of the person traumatized originally, on the other hand, through an internalization (introjection) of ego states of the traumatized reference person. Recent studies have shown that traumatization can also have impact on epigenetic changes. These epigenetic changes can be carried forward but also are reversible. Based on trauma-therapeutic concepts and the work with ego states, the author presents a treatment approach developed by her. By the use of therapeutic role play, the traumatized introject is invited into a trauma processing session. Through this process, the transgenerationally transmitted trauma can be directly healed.