Transgenerational Trauma and Patriarchy

Looking at the world today, troubled with mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression which are the most common, millennials often do not understand where these issues are coming from. The common questions often tainted with detest and aversive reactions involve, “None of these issues existed in our time, why is this generation so weak and falling apart so easily?”

Women have been the epitome of resilience, confidence and self-love. They have risen against the rigid rules of the society and made a mark on the world. They have stood up for gender discrimination and biases in workplaces, schools, universities, and their private homes. Women are making history consistently to change their circumstances for a better future for the coming generations.

Read More: Paving the Way for Gender-Neutral Parenting and Acceptance in Society

According to research, Gen Z is prone to suffer from chronic anxiety, depression, PTSD, Bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Why were these issues not prevalent in the time of our mothers and grandmothers? The truth is that women have been the victims of silent suffering. Their voices were suppressed by the patriarchal standards of society and thus, we do not have an account of what they felt or thought about back then.

Read More: Are we still fighting the Patriarchy?

At the time of our grandmother, there were plenty of crimes inflicted upon women, from persecution, rape to honour killings. The society wanted women to suffer because of their gender and alleged inferiority to men. In such circumstances, their silence was not a choice rather it was the patriarchy.

The trauma and unresolved emotions experienced by our foremothers’ have been transferred to our generation, as the evidence suggests in epigenetics. When mothers and grandmothers are in denial of their traumas, it trickles down to our generation where we are faced with psychiatric illnesses and undergo panic attacks. Even though we have not experienced the trauma ourselves, we still feel ashamed and responsible for certain human emotions due to transgenerational trauma.

Transgenerational Trauma

A very famous study that showed the genetic transmission of trauma had exposed mice to the smell of cherry blossoms while simultaneously giving mild electric shocks. When these mice were bred, the 2 generations of mice showed a strong reaction of fear and anxiety to cherry blossoms. Research has consistently shown that trauma resides in the body. No matter how much the sufferer suppresses it and denies it, the body remembers and transmits it across generations. Children of trauma victims have consistently reported frequent nightmares, mistrust, insomnia, low self-esteem and chronic anxiety.

It is not solely genetic, but the way parents’ trauma is communicated to the children also plays a role in its transmission. Compromised parenting and communication styles lead parents to transmit messages that are survival in nature. Examples include, “It is just you who is dependent for your safety, the world is out there to get you.” or “Women are supposed to be indoors after 9 pm, or they might get raped by the men of the society.”

Intergenerational trauma manifests itself in physical symptoms as well as socio-cultural aspects. It affects the parent-child relationships as famously seen between women of three generations. If the relationship between the grandmother and mother is unhealthy and distant, it is a high
possibility that the relationship of the mother and daughter will also meet the same fate as transmitted by the mother herself. Intergenerational trauma is also responsible for the development of personality disorders and negative patterns of behaviour.

Trauma theories

Freud conceptualized trauma using the theory of repression stating that trauma can be so overwhelming and damaging to the psyche of the individual that they end up denying it and pushing it out of their unconscious mind. This trauma is stored in the body and shows up in the
form of somatic symptoms. There also comes into the picture the phenomenon of death drive which is the drive that leads us to destruction. This drive presents itself either outwardly in the form of aggression or inwardly as self-hatred and self-harm.

Caruth (1996) in line with psychoanalytic theory explained trauma as an event that impacts the conscious working of an individual’s mind. The fear takes over the mind which leads the mind to detach itself from the traumatic experience as a protective measure. The dissociation of the mind from the body helps the individual against experiencing the event such that the individual is unable to even express it later. The only way trauma is communicated is through the reproductive ways of people who have experienced it. Both Freud and Caruth suggest that trauma affects the psyche of a community collectively and that trauma is historical and transferable.

Read More: Father of Psychoanalysis: A Deep Dive into the Life of Sigmund Freud

Transgenerational trauma and Patriarchy

As a result of oppression and constant fear, women have been suppressed and threatened to dream. The abilities of women have been belittled and questioned constantly by their family members as well as society. Through socialization and the transfer of trauma, these beliefs about inferiority to men and self-doubt have been deeply embedded within every woman. Women have always been high achieving and driven, however, the fact is that due to patriarchy, women’s abilities were suppressed at the time of our grandmothers. Today, we have fought for our rights and against the patriarchy, however, quite ironically, we still live in the patriarchy.

We have gotten these instructions from society when we wanted to do something unique and ambitious telling us to not be too smart or not to be too powerful, it is a man’s world. These instructions have transformed into such well-established beliefs in our psyche that we live by them subconsciously. These beliefs still get triggered due to either transgenerational trauma or socialization which signal us that it is not safe to be ourselves, to be a woman. This leads us to use certain defence mechanisms that do not serve us such as procrastination, imposter syndrome and
self-sabotage. You may also have trouble sleeping or relaxing because of the hypervigilance that your nervous system is constantly experiencing.

It becomes important to understand the socio-cultural factors behind the mental health issues that Gen Z is facing today. We must seek mental health services to better understand the psychology behind being a woman and break the trauma cycle that we are stuck in constantly. We must not internalize the negative feedback and self-sabotaging instructions that society gives us for their own rigid beliefs. The sufferings of our foremothers should be given a voice and their traumas must be addressed and acknowledged, for it will help in the collective healing of femininity.