A major contributor to mental health is generational trauma. The phrase may be new, but the impact is felt by human race.

Simply put, trauma that passes on / transgresses from one generation to another is called generational trauma. What passes on is the effect of trauma without being exposed to any situation / incident causing trauma. The impact has a deep bearing on the mental health of successive generations.

For ease of understanding, experts classify generational trauma into various types – natural, historical, social and family level trauma.

Natural disasters such as floods, earthquake, drought, famine, landslides, tsunami and their aftermath leave a lasting detrimental impact on the psyche of the victims / survivors. This may permeate down generations of such persons affecting their mental health and resilience.

Historical and man-made events – slavery, colonization, war, holocaust, genocide, forced migration, terrorism have left permanent scars in the minds of those who experienced it in a way it affects all their future generations as a sense of fear and insecurity lingers on.       

At the social level repeated exposure to racism, untouchability, gender discrimination, lack of opportunity, poverty continue to rear its head across generations. 

At the core of a person is the family. When there is lack of familial bonding, dearth of affection, instances of abuse physical and emotional, suicides, death of loved ones, the impact on the mental health of the person is profound and permanent. 

It is important to identify, acknowledge the trauma without associating shame or inferiority to it and work towards mitigating the impact to minimise trauma. Seeking help, not being hard on one-self and communicating feelings about a situation go a long way in healing from the trauma.