Trauma results in deeply distressing experiences that significantly affect the lives of individuals. Trauma results from sustained stress and can dramatically alter an individual at the generic level, leading to the intergenerational manifestation of various responses to trauma, like having a genetic predisposition to developing stress and anxiety (Švorcová, 2023). Many researchers have explored the possibilities of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance of traumatic experience, especially by focusing on the offspring of survivors who experienced traumatic events like the Holocaust (PBS & WGBH Educational Foundation., 2015). This paper will explore the different facets of trauma and its genetic effects and showcase the possibilities of hereditary epigenetic changes people inherit from parental trauma as well as highlight ongoing global that could affect future generations concerning hereditary trauma.
Trauma has long-standing effects that significantly affect an individual’s personal life. Trauma can dramatically impact an individual’s private life in various ways, especially concerning their prevailing emotional state. For instance, trauma is closely associated with multiple mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, anger, erratic behaviors, fear, and paranoia (Fondren et al., 2020). Such mental conditions make individuals develop antisocial disorders, affecting how they interact with others. Therefore, the traumatic experience derails their social skills, making them nervous in social situations, leading to antisocial behavior and significantly deteriorating the quality of life of leads. Trauma is also linked with constant flashbacks and a recurrent sensation of reliving the traumatic experience that manifests in established conditions such as post-traumatic disorder (PTSD) (Fondren et al., 2020). PTSD and other manifestations of trauma may turn an individual violent, making a menace to society should they go through a manic disorder. The manifestation of trauma affects the individual personal life as it derails their productivity, especially in social situations where they are likely to be considered as hazards. Trauma also messes up an individual’s emotions and perception, making them socially and emotionally incompetent when navigating situations in their personal lives (Fondren et al., 2020). Trauma and how it manifests profoundly affects the individual’s private life, especially in social situations.
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Epigenetics is a discipline that studies how behavior and the external environment can have profound effects on genes and how they work. Epigenetics highlights how specific alterations to chemical markers in the gene can affect it and its expression in both the individual and their offspring. Numerous factors can influence genes and how they express themselves in individuals. In the video by PBS & WGBH Educational Foundation., (2015), Dr. Rachel Yehuda’s study focuses on the chemical marker FKBP5 in the genes associated with stress (PBS & WGBH Educational Foundation., 2015). The research that focuses on Holocaust survivors shows that the generation that experienced the stress associated with traumatic events developed changes in the chemical markers.
Consequently, their offspring have similar changes. Therefore, the offspring also had a genetic predisposition to stress and anxiety, among other mental health and stress-related issues. Epigenetics shows that stress can influence the chemical markers of the gene associated with stress and profoundly affect how the next generation copes with stress atlas at a genetic level. Therefore, stress is a crucial factor in epigenetics as it can influence the genetic chemical markers of genes and eventually affect how future generations respond to trauma and stress (PBS & WGBH Educational Foundation., 2015). Stress has a significant genetic impact, making it an important consideration when studying epigenetics and intergenerational stress responses.
Though many events in history could have caused stress-related changes to the next generation, the most profound example is the Holocaust. The Holocaust led to the deaths of millions of people, thus, in turn, affecting several million individuals in the next generation, making it one of the most viable avenues of acknowledging the epigenetic studies confirming the relationship between stress and genetic changes. In the video, Dr. Yehuda studies Holocaust survivors and their offspring and showcases the
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