How “The Body Keeps the Score” Explains Generational Trauma

• Have you ever flinched at sudden noise, avoided conflict, or felt the urge to repeat the same patterns as someone in your family? These can all be signs of generational trauma.
• Generational trauma refers to the emotional and psychological effects of trauma that are passed down through families over generations, often through silence, learned behaviors, and unresolved wounds.
• In a book titled “The body keeps the score”, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk reveals how trauma reshapes the brain and how, over time, it disrupts the nervous system and lingers in the body, sometimes for generations.
• To fully understand and comprehend how trauma cycle reshapes both mind and body, The Body Keeps the Score, written by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk is a must-read.
• It’s a powerful book that speaks to the readers and helps them solve the past wounds to help them heal from within.

Here, we’ll relate key insights from van der Kolk’s work to how generational trauma echoes through families and explain what it takes to heal, especially when the pain didn’t start with you.

What Is Generational Trauma?

• Generational trauma is more than what happened to your parents or great-grandparents — it can live on in your nervous system, your emotions, and sometimes, in the stories you were never told.
• This trauma is the psychological and emotional wounds that are passed down from one generation to another, not only through behavior and parenting styles, but possibly also through biology.
• When a parent or grandparent experiences something deeply traumatic like war, abuse, oppression, or even emotional neglect, their unresolved pain doesn’t always stay in the past.
• These experiences leave memories and, more than that, they often create emotional patterns that children grow up with, such as anxiety disorder, distrust, emotional shutdown, or over-controlling behaviors.
• It can shape how they react to situations, raise children, connect, and feel safe in the world.
• Generational trauma can show up in everyday life as:

• Emotional avoidance
• Sudden anger or emotional outbursts
• Chronic physical tension
• Recurring nightmares
• Unexplained fatigue
• Stress-related illnesses (e.g., headaches, digestive issues)
• Chronic anxiety
• Emotional detachment
• Difficulty trusting others

Generational Trauma Vs. Personal Trauma

• Personal trauma is a direct negative experience, such as an accident, loss, or abuse that happened to you. You may remember it because you witnessed and lived through it. However, some personal traumas, especially those that happened in early life, may not be fully recalled.
• Generational trauma is different. You may not know when or how it started, but you feel its effects. It's the fear, tension, or sadness you carry that doesn’t seem to match your own life.
• It can be passed down silently through your family’s behavior, beliefs, and emotional habits — or even through inherited patterns in your body’s stress response system.
• Just because trauma didn’t start with you doesn’t mean it’s not yours to heal.
• Oprah Winfrey’s life is a powerful example of both personal and generational trauma. She connects with these deep-rooted wounds—from childhood poverty and sexual abuse to the emotional scars passed down through generations.
• Yet, none of it stopped her from becoming the strong, resilient, and inspiring icon she is today.
• Winfrey’s story shows that healing is possible—and her work, including her leadership academy, helps break the cycle for future generations.
• She co-authored What Happened to You? with Dr. Bruce Perry, exploring how trauma affects the brain and behavior.
• In this video, Winfrey opens up about her past where she extensively talks about how her grandmother used to whip her, which led to childhood trauma, and how she has come a long way through healing:

Recognizing Patterns of Generational Trauma in Your Life

Generational trauma often whispers through patterns. It doesn’t always announce itself loudly. It repeats itself through these 3 key patterns:

1. Emotional Pattern

You may find yourself feeling things that don’t quite make sense given your life history. This could look like:

• Deep anxiety even in safe situations
• Guilt or shame for no clear reason
• An overwhelming fear of abandonment
• Fear of failure
• Emotional numbness
• Difficulty connecting with people

These emotions may have less to do with your personal past and more to do with your family’s emotional inheritance.

2. Behavioral Pattern

Trauma often echoes across generations through behaviors your family normalizes, avoids, or repeats without question. Here are the behavioral patterns to look out for:

• Silence around emotions or painful histories
• Controlling and perfectionistic tendencies
• Intergenerational patterns of abuse, neglect, or emotional withdrawal
• High expectations without support or space for vulnerability

These behaviors may seem “normal” within your family, but they can be signs of unresolved trauma that was passed down.

3. Physiological Pattern

Your nervous system may react to inherited survival patterns even when there’s no threat present. It can manifest through the following physical signs:

• Physical tension, chronic fatigue, or sudden shutdowns
• Panic attacks or rapid heart rate in situations that aren’t actually dangerous
• Avoidance of intimacy or physical closeness
• Difficulty sleeping or relaxing, even in calm environments

These behaviors may seem “normal” within your family, but they can be signs of unresolved trauma that was passed down.

The Biology of Generational Trauma

Trauma doesn’t just stay in your head; it also leaves its mark on your body. According to Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, trauma rewires the brain, alters the nervous system, and shapes how you respond to stress and connection.

Here are a few points to note about how generational trauma affects different parts of your body:

Key Factors That Sustain Generational Trauma

Trauma cycles persist in families for many reasons. These patterns are often passed down unknowingly, creating a legacy of unresolved pain and emotional scars across generations.

To break the cycle, it’s important to acknowledge these patterns, seek understanding, and begin the journey of healing. Here are some of the primary factors that keep trauma alive across generations:

Healing From Generational Trauma

Breaking the cycle of generational trauma is no small feat. When you’re the first in your family to recognize and confront trauma, the journey toward healing can feel overwhelming.

The Body Keeps the Score highlights a range of healing strategies that address the emotional, physical, and psychological impacts of trauma. Here’s how you can begin to break the trauma cycle:

Why You Should Read ‘The Body Keeps the Score’

If you're healing from trauma or anxiety, or working as a therapist, this book offers a more compassionate, science-based, and holistic view of mental health. It also explains the ‘why’ behind traumatic symptoms.

Additionally, Dr. Van Der Kolk challenges cognitive therapy models, making the case for a mind-body revolution in healing. This book explains why body-based therapies, when combined with CBT, can lead to more effective, lasting recovery.

Here is a video of Dr. Van Der Kolk discussing how the body stores trauma and his book ‘The Body Keeps the Score’. This gives you a gist of the physiology of trauma and the pathway to healing:

How This Helps with Anxiety

The book can help you understand how generational trauma is a hidden force contributing to anxiety. Exploring this concept provides clarity on why anxiety may stem from past emotional wounds, rather than being a personal flaw.

Here's how the book helps with anxiety:

• Identifies how inherited trauma shapes your nervous system and emotional responses
• Shows how unprocessed trauma can impact your thought patterns and trigger anxiety
• Reframes anxiety as a response to unresolved trauma, which then helps reduce self-blame
• Offers various healing techniques to help manage anxiety, encourage self-compassion, and show a more holistic approach to mental health

Frequently Asked Questions