When someone experiences trauma, its physical and emotional effects can sometimes impact their children – and this can begin in utero.
You see, during times of stress, the body releases cortisol – and as you know, that’s one of the ways our body helps us cope with physically or emotionally difficult situations.
But when trauma elevates cortisol to unhealthy levels, it can have an epigenetic impact – not only on the client, but on their children as well.
So how can this happen?
Well, we created an infographic you can use with clients to help them visualize how trauma can get passed on through caregivers.
Click the image to enlarge
If you’d like to print a copy for yourself, just click here: Color or Print-friendly.
For more strategies you can use to help clients who’ve experienced trauma, be sure to check out the The Neurobiology of Attachment.
You’ll get insights from Bessel van der Kolk, MD; Dan Siegel, MD; Pat Ogden, PhD; Allan Schore, PhD; and Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD.
Now we’d like to hear from you. How could this help you in your work? Please leave a comment below.
I am a female combat veteran and have recognized this to be true. I felt it somehow when I was pregnant in 2011 soon after leaving service in 2007. Years of childhood abuse and added sexual assaults in the military left a shell of a person not able to understand what was happening while pregnant. If inclined my email is Jannysantos1@icloud.com
I’d like to discuss what our future generations will look like. We know males pass trauma to sons, i can show how women pass combat trauma to daughters. What happens next when these two become mixed.. thank you for your time.
My son was born premature due to my stress at work and bullying by my work colleagues . Perhaps now is the time to sue my previous employers for the trauma they caused me and the impact they have had on my son .
It’s important to ask the question why is the mother anxious and to further study the impact of cortisol regulation on do many complex disease states .
Thank you so much for sharing. As a lay person who cannot access professional help, your sharing helps so much with self education and understanding how my life has been impacted by past trauma.
I can occasionally afford to buy a module but these knowledge clips help me as well.
Thank you so much, keep up the work of helping the world to heal. Even one by one.
Yes, this is very HELPFUL for my patients. Also validates my old quips (pre grad school), ” I think I was born anxious”.
Definitely want to update my info on Neurobiology of Trauma.
Dianne Herivel, LMFT
Have you ever looked into The Hoffman Institute?
7 day retreat- northern CA, like 20 years of therapy, life changing for me.
Clients often have no idea that maternal trauma or anxiety during gestation and into childhood, has a impact on their brains, mood states and world views. This will be very useful for their insight.
Thank you.The whole article and infographic is very helpful for me to understand the trauma and help my client to work on healing it.
Perhaps in the wake of trauma, I am curious about the epigenetic impact of a birthing mother, embodied in Awareness.
So am I! It would be very interesting. The ‘golden hour’ after birth is when the baby is supposed to bond with Mum and that support provides resilience from the the birthing experience and helps prevent it turning into PTSD (and of course this doesn’t happen all the time at all). But yes there may be benefits to birthing being what it is too….
I am very curious too.
I have experienced trauma and have had our time thinking straight as I prepare for my divorce. I would like to know how I can heal my brain. It’s very discouraging I’ve done a lot of work. I also have ADHD. But I’m putting myself at risk because I can’t gather the documents and think and execute things to completion.
I am a healing touch certified practitioner. But I am the caregiver who needs to be cared for. I would appreciate a course that would help me heal this. Or resources for how I can heal the amiglia. I’m fascinated with the amiglia they have the campus. But gosh darn it. As many people as I take care of where do I go to take care of me?
I would really recommend the book “You Are Not Your Brain” by Jeffrey Schwarz. Helped me immensely. Also, any of NICABMs material on Self Compassion, might help. You are going through a difficult and stressful time; your brain is behaving “normally” for this sort of experience. Do you know anyone who can do some mindfulness with you (You Tube is chocka bloc with them, choose carefully!) I hope you come through this time wiser and calmer – many of us do after “dark nights of the soul”!
This is a fantastic infographic. Very informative. Also, to note: the silhouettes are very euro centric (hair textures and facial features are evidently white representation.) Since so much of what we’re seeking to heal collectively includes the intergenerational trauma imposed by oppressive system and structures on communities of color, recommend revising this infographic to either not show silhouettes or show silhouettes that are representative. Thank you for the work you do! You are an invaluablw source of education!
Psychotherapy is like all the other disciplines perhaps that decolonisation of the mind starts with decentering the concept of whiteness . This is hard for folk with non melanin I think g skin to do because part of their automaticity is thinking of people with reference to themselves .
This will be really helpful to show adoptive parents who are struggling with their children’s attachment problems.
I appreciate the trainings I’ve taken with you. This infographic concerns me, though. It doesn’t feel very good. As a mother with bipolar who witnesses my son having similar struggles, it makes me feel guilty— like I am the cause. For example: “If only I could have relaxed and lowered my cortisol, he wouldn’t be struggling so much…” Parents do, of course, play a huge role in their children’s development and mental health, but this graphic blames it on what the Mom is holding. What about the Dad’s culpability? That is not represented. Thank you for considering my viewpoint.
yes, i get this. I find it very helpful to understand how generational issues can be passed down, and it helps me. On the other hand, doing my own work for some years now, i also feel guilty; i had very stressful pregnancy’s, with almost no tools to cope. When i now see some of my children with anxiety or coping mechanisms, i tend to feel guilty.
Thank you for work and sharing, it is just so complex with no quick fixes. Blessings
You are right to suggest caution in relation to what is almost victim blaming. People do the best they can and the issue of passing on trauma to one’s children requires a gentle and sensitive conversation, and only if it is likely to be helpful…. and yes, Dad’s too pass on trauma in early interactions and how they make their partner feel while she is pregnant.
We must ask where does the mother get the trauma from. The traumatised mother is herself a victim of whatever system she is living in. Blaming women for the impact of societies issues is a common way to distract from the real cause of high cortisol levels , the mixture of real tough environmental factors , ones perception of those factors and resilience .
In my work with babies before they are born, I see inter-generational trauma often. Almost always if the mother displays the schizoid/ or leaving pattern (these terms are taken from the five character structures of somatic therapy), in other words, if her awareness is not fully in her body, then the baby will show the same pattern. I often feel that the baby’s legs are not energized and there is a certain freezing throughout the body.
What is most gratifying is to work with a mother who says, “I can’t feel anything for my baby” (and to see and feel the effect of this on the baby in utero) and then to see and feel her release the terror of connection in her body, so that she becomes energetically available to her child.
I became drawn to this work after my own therapist, an early leader in the field of pre-birth trauma, Dr. Graham Farrant, said to me, “you died in the womb’. In the process of coming back to life in my own body, I have become passionate about helping people like myself. Thank you for sharing this infographic with us.
Can you cite research to back this up? Could you be, unintentionally, causing pregnant women or wanting -to-be pregnant women unnecessary stress and guilt?
Do you know many women who did not experience anxiety etc when pregnant? Is it not possible that nature has found ways to mitigate these situations?
We are long way off understanding all that happens in pregnancy – the neurological studies have barely begun – so I really think we should be quite cautious about jumping to conclusions that could influence whether a women becomes pregnant or continues with a pregnancy.
Great point. Okay if this point to the problem how do we heal ourselves.
This is a very important question. I am also very concerned with how this infographic could be misinterpreted during pregnancy. Possibly simplifying a complex interplay of this sort to such a degree as has been done here will do more harm than good for the pregnant population. Almost all of our patients rapport anxiety during pregnancy, to more or less degrees. We work actively with this but I will not be adding this picture to their burden. I have appreciated everything else I have seen so far from this forum and send many deep bows. Here I think you will need to discuss things with the obstetrical community as well so you can tweek the message. Thank you again
This is an excellent representation. It will make explaining the effects of generational trauma to a client so much easier and clearer
We have to remember that the graphic is a representation of a theory which in my opinion does not go far enough in asking how did the mother become traumatised .? When this is understood compassion for o es entire linage can occur which is a healing process in itself . However blaming mothers for their children’s issues of their own trauma is pointless
I am a Child Mental Health Practitioner in Bradford UK
I would say ‘most ‘of my young people have attachment issues
I like to share this info with social workers foster carers & adoptive parents it helps them to understand the impact of trauma upon the unborn child
thank you
Really nice info graphic. We produce animation for mental health initiatives. Would you like us to animate it?
Intéressant helpful to liberate the trans generation weird reactions
Thank you. This is a very clear explanation of how trauma can be passed on from the parent to the child.
Thanks immensely for your generosity .
Ive been in therapy for the last 3 and a half years and doing my Bachelor of Social Work gave me a greater understanding if the implicit memory and why after all these years I am still triggered, but what I have found works for me is daily meditation but I also have been studying to become certified in the Magnetic Mind program and I am a Theta Healing Practitioner and have experienced major shifts within my personality and how I manage my emotions now that no course or therapy has been able to do previously. You dont have to relive the trauma through talk therapy, you simply give the practitioner of either modality magnetic mind or theta healing technique, permission to work on you and with regular sessions, I am calmer and more at peace.
Breaking the cycle is of my utmost importance as I’m a 3rd generation survivor and whist I cant control what has been passed on through epigenetics, I have the tools to be able to pass on to my children the skills of breathing for emotional regulation and the mind, body and health benefits of regular meditation which will hopefully mitigate any negative impacts from the trauma they experienced in utero or anything passed down through DNA.
Hello,
I HIGHLY recommend everyone on here sensorimotor psychotherapy from a certified advanced practitioner who also has training by Dr. Janina Fisher. It made a world of a difference in my daughter’s ASD and MH diagnoses and in myself. CBT/DBTnever worked because it targets an area in the brain that is offline when we get triggered out of our window of tolerance. We were easily triggered almost all the time before we started SPTx. Dr. Bruce Perry is absolutely correct with his Neurosequential Model. I would LOVE to team up with other health professionals to change the system, so that everyone has access to this ground breaking approach. My daughter had 10 yrs of therapy and I had 20 years, nothing made a real difference, until we had SP sessions. I also do somaticmovementcenter.com micromovements every day now, which complements SP perfectly. Both approaches are neuroscientific body-based. Excellent results in a short time!
Unfortunately expensive, but health insurance Medicaid providers must pay for an out-of-network outpatient provider on a single case agreement. Go get it. We all deserve to receive help. I am SOOO SORRY for everyone on this list who suffers from transgenerational trauma.
I feel for you all who shared their stories on here. We all have been through sooo much. And yes, building a faithful relationship with God does help to reduce the massive anxiety. Blessings to everyone on here.
I went through probably a dozen counselors before I found the right one. I have been seeing her for years now and she has helped me so much. Keep trying. I had no idea I was capable of trusting others and of having a healthy relationship. Please keep trying to find the one who works. Most places offer a consultation so you can find a better fit. You are worth the effort.
I have been trying to break my family’s cycle of mental illness/trauma/addiction etc. For my future child, I have been back in therapy and continue to improve. I know that it all starts with me and how I am dealing with life. I am so sorry for all the people who are struggling or going through tramadol while pregnant. We cannot control everything but at least having someone to guide you through is important. I realized I would be limiting myself and not growing in ways I might not realize. It has made the world of difference.
Trama*
Don’t give up! I know it is hard to find the right person. I was turned off for years by the wrong therapists. You deserve to have peace and healing in your life.
I have CFS/ME which (as I understand it) results in excess cortisol as my brain initiates a stress response whenever it feels like it! Does that mean that if I were to get pregnant I could unintentionally give my child emotional challenges, even though my own issue is neurological and not directly related to trauma?
Yes definitely. We are coping with a RAD daughter that was given up for adoption at birth by her bio mother that accidentally got pregnant
I have exactly this experience over and over. I’m sorry. I know how hard this is.
My own mum was I’ll with cancer when I was pregnant with my second child, she died while I was giving birth – a 52 hour labour.
When my daughter was a few weeks old we had her funeral. One of my first trips was to pick funeral flowers.
I had congratulations cards up with sympathy cards. I ended up getting pnd and anxiety and although recovered I certainly don’t feel like the same person I was!
I truly truly hope my pnd doesn’t negatively impact my kids.
Hi, are there any examples of speech and language development being directly or indirectly affected by this?
Thank-you for the insight. Protection of children is Paramount. Education is key
Could trauma in the past – way before Conception- have impact?
Intergenerational trauma. Google it.
Is it possible that an already stressful pregnancy that had a violent traumatic event (gang initiation where they tried to run a 7 month pregnant woman off the freeway with her 22 month old toddler in the back seat) could cause the baby to be born with a small grey matter Heterotopia, severe cognitive delay?
I can speak to this, I have 5 children, 2 diagnosed with schizophrenia, 1 who has had a psychotic episode 1 I lost full term and 1 that has the inner strength to ensure her siblings are safe. 20 years of domestic violence and I walk this journey with my children and chose to re-empower them because one day I won’t be here.
That is sad and inspiring ?you are one strong person
You STAYED for 20 years of domestic violence with your children present?
I left my abuser by my daughters first birthday.
You dont allow children in an abusive environment. Thats part of being a parent!
Jenna – The children are likely the “offenders” in this situation… and she is loving on them regardless.
We are here to help ourselves and others move in from guilt and shame and abuse. Please do not hurt others that are on their path to recovery by shaming them and their past actions. Anonymous, AU is trying help herself and her children and Jenna, please be kind instead of transferring your anger onto them. Although you both are survivors, your shared experiences of abuse were obviously not the same. Anon and you had differing circumstances which allowed you to see a path away from your abuser sooner than Anon. Peace.
I think this can be very helpful, but as other respondents noted, it could be interpreted as going back to the times of blaming the mother. I don’t mean to suggest it is not true, nor that it may not be helpful, however as with all treatments and tools, there is preparation that should occur, and when and how this information is shared should take in to account the ability of the individual (possibly of the couple/family) to process and utilize the information.
I have a 15 year old now and see how this epi genetic model could be a factor in explaining some current struggles. When I was pregnant with her, I suffered an extreme and traumatizing grief & loss. Managing my cortisol levels was so not in my radar. It is helpful to me now, but I would not have been able to access this back then. I also would reiterate, that we are in some ways still very new to understanding all these mechanisms. Certainly we are designed with strong survival instincts and mechanisms, and I believe there are internal back-ups and fail-safes consistent with neuro plasticity that we may (likely) have not fully discovered.
I also think that the issue of maternal guilt for these mechanisms has to be handled very carefully, and those who share this information must examine any internal biases about socioeconomic, racial and cultural groups.
My mother lost a baby a year before I was born. She had pre-eclampsia (toxaemia), the baby was a bit on the large side and drugs were administered to speed up contractions. When it was realised that wasn’t working she was taken to theatre, given a general anaesthetic and the baby man handled into the world with forceps, but too badly damaged to survive the journey. When the time came for her to be induced early for my birth, she was put in the same bed in the same hopspital. She kicked up a fuss and got moved, but she was distressed. Several factors point to her having low level clinical depression through my early childhood, then she had full on mental illness and was abusive. Two years ago an event triggered PTSD in me. I also have two grown children with autism and associated disorders and struggled to cope with them as children.
You used victim-blaming language and that’s unacceptable. You shouldn’t have said that a person who has had a care-giver with untreated trauma may: “unintentionally bring out negative behavior in others”. We are all responsible for our own behavior and it perpetuates abuse cultures when you use victim-blaming language.
Thank you Lizzie. This needed pointing out. Xx
Having dealt with traumatized people myself, it’s a fair statement that they themselves might unintentionally trigger others with their learned maladaptive behaviours, another way of stating the above (perhaps more carefully worded). We are all responsible for our behaviour but it might help the traumatized individual to see the correlation.
I’m not a professional health care provider I’m an Early Childhood Educator and the mother of an adopted son who came from a Mum who had a traumatic pregnancy. He is now an adult who suffers from panic attacks PTSD unknown anger anxiety to name a few. I have always said this and that he needs help our current Doctor understands the symptoms he is seeing but disagrees with the reasons. We are finding it very difficult because he hates being this way and constantly having to explain himself. How do we find a professional to help him? What questions do we ask? We live in British Columbia Canada on the Island
I think its a fair statement. My older sister who is adopted and was the result of an affair and her mother was forced by religious values to complete the pregnancy even though she was very bitter and angry, likes to push buttons and does her best to make people around her miserable. She has stopped coming to family gatherings and things are drama free now.
She is the embodiment of her mothers bitterness and anger. She was an unconsolable child, and distanced herself from my parents and family. My brother was also adopted and is nothing like this, but he now has a healthy relationship with his birth mom who made the best of a not so great situation.
My sisters birth mother met with her once and they had a long talk. Apparently she was full of anger towards my sisters father, bitter about the pregnancy and full of regret. She basted my sister in this hormone shit show for 9 months and created a very broken human being.
Your brain is an organ – cortisol can cause pathology. If it was a genetic type I DM you would not have said that. Understanding pathology in the brain is the first step in offering empathy to a patient. Behavior change is more likely when empathy is priority. With that being said, you must teach others to change their behavior, then accountability can be applied.
This is a bitter pill to swallow, but as someone with a highly emotionally dysregulated mother I didn’t interpret the wording as victim-blaming at all, but rather the opposite, because the word “unintentionally” was used.
When people are hypervigilant a lot they can inadvertently, due to their non-verbal communication, send danger cues to others. Of course, if this triggers an emotional outburst on the part of the other person that person is 100% responsible for his/her reaction, but they could also have a healthy response which could be, for example, avoiding the hypervigilant person entirely, which then could make it harder for this person to make friends. Polyvagal theory explains how this works.
Im sure this is true. I experianced trauma often and throughout my second pregnancy. Quite scary things happened.
I noticed my baby would not move as much after certain incidents. Other times i didnt feel good and i know i was dealing with a lot of stress.
And the difficulties continued throughout my child’s early infancy.
He was later diagnosed with ASD and he had developmental delay in speech and other social skills. I notice in him as a young adult he struggles with his emotions and relating to other people. Its like a repeat cycle.
I often wonder was it the pregnancy and was it my fault he was affected.
I think this kind of education is so important for women. Esp if they are in volatile relationships and they become mothers.
Does this graphic come in Spanish?
This leaves out possible repeated behavior in adulthood, such as violence or other kinds of abuse.
Good work on the infographic! Bruce Perry, MD has some great research and insights into the developing brain if anyone is interested. Interestingly, the amygdala is formed at the 8th month of gestation and forms implicit emotional memories as well. The brainstem forms a type of implicit associative memory even earlier. And, the brain develops bottom to top, back to front, and right to left. The brainstem forms first, then the diencephalon, followed by the limbic areas, and the cortex. Bruce Perry’s assertion is that interventions need to be sequentially targeting the respective brain region because of the neurosequential flow of sensory information. Interesting stuff. Thanks for your excellent contribution
Alistair Gordon, MA, RCC
Director, Wellspring Counselling Inc.
What would the indications be for a child’s neurological development if the mother gave birth more than 3 months premature?
Learning challenges with math, numbers, understanding patterns and sequence even as related to relationships and consequences. This child will need extra re-enforcing of rules, consequences, boundaries with high and loving consistency. This can easily be overcome if others and caregivers can see this as a challenge for the child and not an “intentional behavior” to “act bad”. This is not guaranteed just often see with premature often I have seen it more common with male children.
My 2 year old is an extremely difficult child. My husband became disabled while I was pregnant with our now 2 year old. I’ve often wondered if that season of worry and extreme frustration, anger, grief, worry has negatively effected our child. What do I do now? He’s only 2. How do I help him???
Teach boundaries, and self-regulation with lots of support. Stress cortisol can make us “pop” and go to survival mode and function there. Work on consist routine, teach feeling words and expressions. Try to learn his triggers so you can teach him how to control his feelings, calm down before becoming overly destructive.
My children are complex trauma survivors of many family members suffering from trauma. What can you suggest. Inter generational trauma
I am not a clinician. I would be a client if I were affluent. My insurance covers $35 of an hour’s time of ONLY a Registered Clinical Psychologist or a Registered Clinical Psychologist or Psychiatrist whose hourly rates are over $200. The vast majority of trauma, or Complex PTSD, like myself are unable to afford such rates and the counsellors available are not trauma therapists. Considering the cause of C-PTSD the numbers of sufferers are undoubtedly much higher than understood. What are the back stories of the drop outs, addicts, homeless, suicide victims? That is where research, action, new therapies, and a complete revamping of the current ancient misogynistic patriarchal system is needed. Victims must not be revictimized. Abusers must be charged, jailed, and rehabilitated while the victims are protected.
Hello Leah,
I hear your pain. It’s a shit system that needs changing. I have been struggling to help my daughter’s psychological issues for over 20 years, dipping in and out of the allopathic system and also using a variety of alternative therapies. Many people slip through the cracks and can have a lifetime of struggle, never being able to reach their full potential. I wish you luck in your journey and hope you can stay as optimistic as possible in finding help.
Eileen
Leah, your thoughts really hit home with me. The myriad of symptoms and the changes in our brains as trauma survivors does cause the majority of us to never reach our true potential, which does overall mean that as a group, we are more likely to struggle economically. So where are all of the trauma experts when WE need one? I can go to four different psychiatrists, relate my multiple traumas, and be advised to follow four totally different approaches. The insurance I pay for through my job barely has any therapists in network, let alone any that seem remotely current on trauma treatment. I don’t need to pay out-of-pocket for a therapist to simply say to do daily affirmations and “self-care.” What do they expect multiple rape survivors to know about self-care?
Look for someone trained in EMDR it currently is the most evidence trauma specific therapy. For children TF-CBT is the most effective currently. For severe depression associated with trauma some have been using TMS. Not all clinicians are trained the same and many do not continue to learn new skills.
This information has the ability to change the world as we know it…….thank you so much for making it a available to everyone!