EMOTIONAL INHERITANCE :: Galit Atlas, PhD

Every individual and family hold a history of trauma. Those who study the intergenerational transmission of familial trauma investigate how the trauma of those who came before us is passed down like a gene, an "emotional inheritance," leaving its mark on us and future generations. In Emotional Inheritance, Dr. Galit Atlas describes how different traumas are held within families and impact those who are not yet even born, even if those traumas are kept secret. Fascinating, mind-blowing, and difficult to think about. 

Dr. Atlas's belief is that silenced experiences belong to everyone in our family tree and impact our ability to live up to our full potential. "They effect our mental and physical health, create gaps between what we want for ourselves and what we are able to have, and haunt us like ghosts." 

The work is broken into three sections. The first relates to our grandparents and the trauma of past generations. The second involves our parents and how those secrets and traumas are carried on to our generation, and the final section is about you and me, ourselves and how we break the cycle. 

Dr. Atlas writes in a matter-of-fact way that is not dumbed down but quite understandable by a layperson. Some ideas are wilder than others, yet when walked through some of Dr. Atlas's examples, one is left without doubt. For example, evolutionary or epigenetic changes occur when a generation (or individual) is marked by trauma. Take, for instance, the Holocaust. Research has shown that the offspring of Holocaust survivors (similarly to enslaved people, war veterans, etc...) are more likely to present with PTSD following traumatic events.

Perhaps in a "survival of the fittest"/Darwinian way, the biological changes of such trauma might be seen to prepare the children of survivors for environments such as those experienced by their ancestors. However, they also often leave them vulnerable to carrying symptoms of trauma that they didn't experience firsthand. 

By weaving the stories of her patients' narratives in with her own personal stories, Dr. Atlas helps provide a way for us to recognize some of these issues or changes within ourselves. The key is to deal with the disconnect between ideas and feelings, thus knocking down the protective walls that keep us from feeling something devastating. Of course, the walls also keeps the trauma "isolated and unprocessed." An emotional Catch-22, for sure, but one that gives new meaning to the phrase "we are only as sick as our secrets." 

Emotional Inheritance is an utterly engrossing work that will have readers thinking about their own histories, family terminologies and stories, and the trauma that shapes so many of our relationships and paths in life.