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This is why you will see some families with multiple members over several generations using alcohol and drugs. Generations can continue to pass down this behavior of using substances to deal with their pain and other trauma symptoms. Many people who experience trauma will use drugs or alcohol to help them cope with the symptoms they experience from trauma. Substance Use (using alcohol or drugs to cope with trauma symptoms).Hypervigilance (sensitive fight or flight response).Because trauma affects genetic processes, this can lead to traumatic reactivity being heightened in their future generations. Through the studying of epigenetics, they believe that trauma causes changes to an individual’s DNA, and that gene change is passed down to future generations. There is a relatively new field of study known as epigenetics, changes that occurred to the genome induced by environmental events, and which can genetically be passed down. This is called generational trauma (or intergenerational trauma or transgenerational trauma).
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What many people may not realize is that trauma can also be genetically passed down through families. Generational Trauma and Substance Use DisorderĮveryone has a basic understanding of genetic traits that are passed down through generations, from physical characteristics to medical genetic conditions.