We all suffer from some kind of trauma or other\u2014 or will eventually, since the rose garden of life contains plenty of thorns. And here\u2019s something that you may find surprising: Some of us may be feeling the effects of trauma experienced by a parent or grandparent, as recent research has shown that trauma can be passed down through the generations. <\/p>\n
A study of the DNA of Holocaust survivors and their children showed variations from the norm in both generations for the gene associated with depression and anxiety disorders \u2013an epigenetic change that affects how the gene is turned on and off by other molecules, rather than a change in the gene itself. Other studies have shown that both the survivors and descendants of those who have suffered war, violence, and incessant fear have lower levels of cortisol. Reduced cortisol levels have been linked to increased vulnerability to PTSD. This may seem counter-intuitive, because we think of cortisol as the \u201cfight-or-flight\u201d hormone, but one of the important functions of cortisol is helping the body return to normal after trauma. Not having enough cortisol to completely bring down the sympathetic nervous system, at the time when it is very important for a person to calm down, may partially explain the formation of traumatic memory or generalized triggers. Some of the effects of low cortisol include depression, weakness and fatigue, social anxiety, and emotional hypersensitivity.<\/p>\n
This doesn\u2019t come as a surprise to me: I\u2019ve often thought that the suffering my Jewish ancestors faced in Eastern Europe\u2014the forced conscriptions into the tsar\u2019s army, the pogroms, the Holocaust\u2014and particularly, my own father\u2019s experience as a young boy in his shtetl, hiding from the Cossacks hunting down Jews\u2014has led to patterns of anxiety and depression in my family.<\/p>\n
How about the history of African Americans? Their ancestors were stolen from their homelands, chained and shipped to the \u201ccivilized\u201d world as slaves, then sold to the highest bidder as if they were furniture or bundles of cotton. Those here in the U.S. were then subject to impossibly long hours of work in the fields in the hot and humid South, beatings, rape, and having their families torn apart\u2014wives separated from husbands, children ripped out of their mothers\u2019 arms. Once the slaves were freed, their descendants had to deal with Jim Crow laws and presently face or experience discrimination in the housing and job markets (despite federal laws to the contrary), the incarceration of a disproportionate number of black men and what that does to families (while African Americans make up about 13% of the U.S. population, 37% of prison inmates are African American males), the shooting and killing of unarmed black men by police, who are then acquitted if it even comes to a trial. No wonder, then, that so many African Americans are traumatized. Wouldn\u2019t you be?<\/p>\n
Most people think of PTSD something suffered by veterans, those who returned from the World Wars, the Vietnam War, the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan (and by those who have survived a mass shooting, a phenomenon which has become far too common in this country). There\u2019s another form of PTSD that\u2019s less known. It may be that some people you pass on the street and wave at and say, \u201cHow are ya?\u201d and who answer, \u201cFine,\u201d struggle with its symptoms. Those abused or neglected as children, wives abused by husbands, sweatshop workers, concentration camp survivors, survivors of cults or cult-like organizations\u2014many of these individuals suffer from a form of PTSD called complex PTSD, or C-PTSD, which results from prolonged and repeated trauma.<\/p>\n
So instead of rushing to judgment and condemning someone whose life experience or family history might be different from yours (or telling Jews to just \u201cget over\u201d the Holocaust, or African Americans to just \u201cget over\u201d slavery), how about pausing and imagining what it would be like to be the person you\u2019re so quick to judge? It\u2019s called empathy, and it\u2019s the ability to imagine we\u2019re walking in someone else\u2019s shoes. It\u2019s sorely lacking today. So how about a bit of empathy? Please?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We all suffer from some kind of trauma or other\u2014 or will eventually, since the rose garden of life contains plenty of thorns. And here\u2019s something that you may find surprising: Some of us may be feeling the effects of … Continue reading