Research Suggests Trauma and Healing are Genetically Passed Through Generations

Epigenetics research brings a new meaning to the phrase “breaking the cycle.”

Photo by Rajiv Perera on Unsplash

Now is a pretty incredible time to be alive. There is so much happening! Sure, a lot of it is scary with climate change and politics and whatnot, but we’re also making unimaginable technological and scientific breakthroughs. We’re discovering answers to some of humanity’s longest-held questions and uncovering new layers of eternal debates — like which has more influence over us, nature or nurture? How much free will do we actually have?

Scientists believe the answers to these questions lie within us, specifically in our epigenetics. When the human genome was first sequenced in 2003, it unleashed a whirlwind of research that suggests we inherit far more than our stubbornness, eye color, or laugh from our parents. Growing evidence indicates other qualities of our parents and even grandparents, including mental health, longevity, and traumatic experiences, may also be genetically “hardwired” in us.

Epigenetics

Simply put, epigenetics is the study of gene expression, or how our genes are turned on and off, but there’s a far less scientific reason epigenetics is so exciting. As Moshe Szyf, a professor of…