By Rachel Zimmerman, Image: Jessica Marx/The Washington Post, The Washington Post, June 12, 2023
The idea that trauma can be transmitted across generations — originating with long-dead relatives and passed down to future great-grandchildren — can be a difficult concept to grasp.
But with regular news of mass shootings, covid deaths, police killings and climate disasters, a growing number of therapists and their patients, particularly among the millennial and Gen Z cohorts, are turning their attention to the far-reaching impact of trauma, past and present.
The Oscar-winning film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and television shows such as “Transparent” have grappled with how trauma trickles down in families. Popular nonfiction books such as “What Happened to You?”, by Oprah Winfrey and Bruce Perry, have taken the concept of intergenerational trauma “from the ivory tower to the general public,” said Sandra Mattar, a clinical psychologist and specialist in trauma-informed therapy.
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