This can look like anxiety, trouble sleeping, feeling disconnected or confused, having intrusive thoughts, or withdrawing from others. When we experience any kind of trauma we have both emotional and physical reactions. Some causes of trauma can be the loss of a loved one, a natural disaster, living with a parent or partner who misuses substances, severe illness or injury, or witnessing an act of violence. Some people may experience many “little t” traumas, other’s experience one “Big T” trauma, or can experience a mix of both. It can be deeply disturbing to the individual and can cause them to feel out of control of the situation.Īs therapists, we describe trauma as “Big T”, such as the death of a parent, or “little t”, like breaking an arm, depending on how long the individual experiences negative effects of the event. Trauma is described as an experience that happens in an individual’s life that creates serious harm, whether that’s physical, mental, or emotional. As therapists, we address issues and feelings that our clients are currently dealing with but in some cases, these problems are so ingrained in a person or family that they can be caused by what’s called generational trauma.īefore we get into generational trauma it might be helpful to deeper explain what trauma means in a mental health setting.

Transgenerational trauma