What Is Generational Trauma?
- demelzahoneyborne
- Aug 11, 2023
- 2 min read
Most often in African settings generational traumas are referred to as generational curses and this chain is broken through witch doctors, consistent fasting and prayers or some other form of religious practices. Also, disassociating and/or ostracizing members of the family that may be seen as responsible for the curses is another way of breaking the chain. These curses which are symptoms or behaviours associated with mental health issues, are considered the faults or grave sins committed by family members which have produced negative consequences across generations. (This observation is through personal experience and cultural awareness).
As shown by authors in the link below and also recorded across numerous studies, trauma is an external act which affects a person internally. So it's an act that happened or is done to a person for example being sexually assaulted, terrors of war, car accidents, etc. When not treated this trauma may then affect other family members.
A mother that was raped will aggressively protect her daughters to the point of sabotaging their future relationships. Consistent patterns of divorce across families are not a curse but a result of a trauma that was left unattended. “My family has a relationship curse” was something I used to say. I am in my second marriage and have a massive distrust of people. This can only be from the negative things I witnessed my mother going through with her relationships including my father and other men that came along, and additionally, my personal traumatic experiences growing up in a civil war. If these traumas are not addressed and treated they most definitely will pass on to my children if they haven't already.
“Some of the trauma may or may not have been experienced by each person in the family, but how family members who’ve experienced the trauma raise their children or interact with other family members affects the path of others’ lives. This could be because a mother or parents were hit by their parents or live in an unsafe neighborhood and are fearful for their child all the time that their child develops fears associated with their parents’ fears. This can also be because their parents are using substances to block out some of the effects from the trauma, and the children learn not to discuss their feelings but to mask them using substances as well.”
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