Throughout my life I have witnessed the aftermath of 400 years of slavery and oppression on the lives of Black people and I did not understand it completely. Dr. Leonard Jeffries once said; “It doesn’t matter how long you look at something if you cannot comprehend it.” I went to law school in search of legal understanding and explanation. Law only provided a partial explanation. However, it was not until I completed my doctorate in psychology did I begin to comprehend the full scope of the problem. Therefore, using modern AI technology to extrapolate from and build upon my dissertation; “Coping Mechanisms of Trauma in Survivors of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs),” I constructed a brief essay for the better understand and comprehension of the issue so that it may be better managed by the Black survivors.
If we deny the existence of a thing, we relieve ourselves of the duty to confront it. (Albritton, 2024)
As result of 400 years of slavery, prison industrial complex, segregation, colonialism, familial breakup and destruction, psychological abuse, and physical traumas, the global Black community has experienced unprecedented trauma. The fallout from this trauma in its scope and effect have been unquantifiable. Furthermore, due to the lack of information, understanding, and therapeutic measures, trauma has continued to be passed down intergenerationally via in utero, and or epigenetically. This problem is that intergenerational trauma is repeatedly transmitted unknowingly, and without interruption or disruption, reproducing generation after generation.
This cultural and historic trauma occurs collectively and intergenerationally among a group of people with a shared social identity or circumstance as a result of state‐perpetrated violence or state neglect… when members of a collectivity feel they have been subjected to a horrendous event that leaves indelible marks upon their group consciousness, marking their memories forever and changing their future identity in fundamental and irrevocable ways. Historical trauma as a sequential process that begins with a mass trauma experience during which a dominant group subjugates a population. This leads to a trauma response and attendant physical, psychological, and social consequences in the first generation experiencing the trauma. Later, these responses are transmitted across generations through environmental, psychosocial, and socioeconomic factors as well as through ongoing discrimination and state‐perpetrated violence (Heberle et al., 2020).
Dr. Rachel Yehuda, professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC is one of the worlds foremost experts on trauma and intergenerational trauma. Yehuda found that Holocaust survivors with PTSD had a similar hormonal profile war veterans she was studying. In particular, they had less cortisol, an important steroid hormone that helps regulate the nervous and immune systems’ responses to extreme stress (Heberle et al., 2020). In early papers Yehuda produced on Holocaust offspring, she discovered that the children of PTSD-stricken mothers were diagnosed with PTSD three times as often as members of control groups; children of fathers or mothers with PTSD suffered three to four times as much depression and anxiety, and engaged more in substance abuse. She would go on to discover that children of mothers of survivors had less cortisol than control subjects and that the same was true of infants whose mothers had been pregnant and near the Twin Towers on 9/11. Therefore, intergenerational trauma is not imagined or a crutch used by people to explain away their problems. Trauma is real and it can affect any group. However, Black people are grossly, disproportionately affected.
Later, these responses are transmitted across generations through environmental, psychosocial, and socioeconomic factors as well as through ongoing discrimination and state‐perpetrated violence (Heberle et al., 2020).
Trauma
Trauma is generally defined as an event that induces intense fear, helplessness, or horror. PTSD occurs when the dysregulation induced by that trauma becomes a body’s default state. Provoke a person with PTSD, and her heart pounds faster, her startle reflex is exaggerated, she sweats, her mind races. The amygdala, which detects threats and releases the emotions associated with memories, whirs in overdrive. Meanwhile, hormones and neurotransmitters don’t always flow as they should, leaving the immune system underregulated. The result can be the kind of over-inflammation associated with chronic disease, including arthritis, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Moreover, agitated nervous systems release adrenaline and catecholamines, both involved in the fight or flight response, unleashing a cascade of events that reinforces the effects of traumatic memories on the brain. This may partially explain the intrusive memories and flashbacks that plague people with PTSD. Extreme stress and PTSD also appear to shorten telomeres-the DNA caps at the end of a chromosome that govern the pace of aging (Heberle et al., 2020). Trauma is real and comes in many forms. When it comes to intergenerational trauma, two specific types need examination.
Trauma Effects:
In utero intergenerational trauma refers to the transmission of trauma effects across generations, potentially impacting offspring during prenatal development from mother to child through the umbilical cord.
How this phenomenon can occur
| 1. Transgenerational Transmission | 2. Prenatal Environment: |
| Trauma experienced by one generation can influence the psychological, physiological, and even epigenetic makeup of subsequent generations. This transmission can occur through various mechanisms, including social learning, family dynamics, and changes in gene expression. | During pregnancy, the mother’s experiences, including stress, anxiety, depression, and trauma, can affect the developing fetus. Stress hormones, such as cortisol, can cross the placenta and impact fetal development, potentially influencing brain development, immune function, and stress response systems. |
| 3. Epigenetic Modifications: | 4. Maternal Stress Response |
| Trauma exposure can lead to epigenetic changes—alterations in gene expression without changes to the underlying DNA sequence. These changes can be passed down to offspring and may influence their susceptibility to mental health disorders, stress sensitivity, and other adverse health outcomes. | Maternal stress during pregnancy can dysregulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, the body’s stress response system, in both the mother and the developing fetus. This dysregulation can have lasting effects on the offspring’s stress response and emotional regulation. |
| 5. Interpersonal Relationships | |
| Trauma experienced by the mother or other family members can impact the quality of prenatal care, maternal-infant bonding, and the caregiving environment after birth. These factors can further influence the offspring’s emotional, cognitive, and social development. | |
References
Heberle, A. E., Obus, E. A., & Gray, S. A. O. (2020). An intersectional perspective on the intergenerational transmission of trauma and state‐perpetrated violence. Journal of Social Issues, 76(4), 814–834. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12404
Ramo, F. L., Schneider, A., Wilker, S., & Kolassa, I. (2015). Epigenetic Alterations Associated with War Trauma and Childhood Maltreatment. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 33(5), 701–721. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.2200