watch: we do a deep dive into #intergenerationaltrauma

since disney’s global hit encanto , tiktokers are opening up about their experiences with intergenerational trauma.

encanto follows an extraordinary family tucked away in the columbian mountains. along with a plot full of magic and dancing is the story of a family still trying to heal from a horrific tragedy decades earlier. tiktokers instantly picked up on the family dynamics and began sharing their own family experiences on the platform.

trauma’s impact goes deep

research indicates that traumatic events in our lives can have an effect on which genes our body flips the switch on.

of course, our body has to respond to our environment and what is needed from specific cells (i.e. a nerve cell and a muscle cell are very different, even though they carry the same genetic code.) this is where the field of epigenetics comes into play, where researchers look into how behaviours and environment can turn a gene “on” or “off,” according to the cdc.

while environmental cues , like exposure to pollutants, viruses, bacteria and basic nutrition can play a huge role into how our genes are expressed, significant experiences — things we would classify as trauma — can also have a lasting impact.

mcgowan refers to a study that looked at the effects of early childhood neglect/abuse which showed that this lived trauma correlated with changes to markers on the dna (called methlyation) in specific parts of the adult brain. these markers don’t actually change the genetic code itself, but mcgowan and his team’s research indicated that it does change in how genes were being used by the body, impacting behaviour in adulthood.

can we inherit trauma?

in one study, author dora costa, economist at the university of california, los angeles, and her team noted that the sons of prisoners of war held in the deplorable conditions of confederate prison camps during the u.s. civil war had a higher mortality rate than the population at large — even though they were not exposed to the camps themselves. the sons had an 11 per cent higher rate of death, even after controlling for socioeconomic and marital status.

mouse models have also indicated that conditioning a fear of a specific smells in one first generation can, under certain circumstances, result in a second generation that is sensitive to the same smell. however, researchers note that the fear doesn’t translate exactly from generation to generation: what the first generation was fearful of, the next may merely be sensitive to. mouse models also indicate that the inherited fear can be “unlearned” within a lifetime, preventing it from being passed down to the next generation.

however, many scientists warn that there isn’t enough evidence to support this game-changing theory, pointing out that the critical pathway of these chemical markers from parents’ dna to egg or sperm cells to embryo is not yet mapped out. this is especially important considering that during conception, most of these markers are wiped away, allowing the genetics of both the mother and father to combine.

until this theory is better understood, disney has already released another movie reflecting complex family dynamics.

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watch: we do a deep dive into #intergenerationaltrauma

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