Generational Trauma and Homeopathy’s Role in Ameliorating Transmission to Future Offspring
Amy E. Robinson
Lotus Health Institute
Certificate in Clinical Homeopathy
Dr. Jude M. Toscano, ND and Dr. Robin Murphy, ND
June 16, 2022
Generational traumas can be transmitted to offspring for generations. Homeopathy can end this transfer by clearing the energy of the original trauma.
On the premise that like cures like homeopathy is a medical based system, founded and developed by the German Physician, Samuel Hahnemann, between the years 1755-1843. Since then, it has evolved over 200 years. The Law of Similars states if a healthy person experiences symptoms after taking a particular substance, then a sick person suffering with the same symptoms will be cured by that substance. An example of this would be someone who is symptomatic with a poison ivy rash. The poison ivy plant would cause this rash and when this plant is made into the homeopathic medicine (Rhus Tox) and taken by the person with the rash, it can stimulate the healing process within the infected person. Taking this remedy can help the person’s rash heal faster than doing nothing or suppressing it with allopathic medicine.
Most homeopathic remedies are prepared from plant, mineral, or animal sources. Samples are taken from these sources and highly diluted with water until no physical material is left within the solution. What is left is a type of memory, or energy, of the original material. When taken as a homeopathic remedy, this energy medicine acts as an instruction manual for the body. In the example above, the poison ivy plant is potentized and turned into this energetic medicine. This energy medicine then promotes self-healing within the infected person.
Homeopathy helps to heal physical ailments and promotes a healing response on a mental and emotional level. Therefore, it is my opinion that homeopathy facilitates healing of the mind, body and spirit. An example of this healing, and the focus of my research, is homeopathy’s astounding ability in the healing of mental and emotional traumas, including generational traumas handed down from someone else’s experiences. Generational traumas tend to run in families and are passed down through generations. Homeopathy can seal these emotional wounds so they are not passed down to the next generation.
According to the medical system of homeopathy, the inheritance of trauma, or symptoms, is called a miasm. Miasms are commonly known to be connected with physical illnesses like tuberculosis, cancers or gonorrhea, to name a few. These diseases can effect offspring for generations. Similarly, trauma tends to be passed down generationally in much the same way that these miasms are passed to offspring. The ripple of the original impact of generational trauma and it’s clearance through Homeopathy is observed in the following research. I will share case studies, and other relationships or observations, regarding how homeopathy can ameliorate these traumas from continuing on generationally.
There are two types of generational traumas; transgenerational and intergenerational. Transgenerational trauma is defined as stress exposure directly to the parent during pre-natal or in-utero. This exposure impacts the adult germ cells (sperm and oocytes) during the pre-natal period. The exposure also impacts the unborn generation and the developing germ cell (potentially impacting future generations) in-utero. (1)
Intergenerational trauma is defined by not being directly exposed to the stress but still impacted by the trauma via the altered germ cells. This is usually defined within the third generation and beyond. As the first and second generation usually fall under the direct exposer too the stress and is classified as Transgenerational. (1)
Throughout my research I have noticed that Holocaust survivors are a good example of both transgenerational and intergenerational trauma. A person that experienced the horrors of the holocaust before the conception of their offspring can have children and grandchildren with PTSD type symptoms even if the original parent showed no symptoms of PTSD. Due to the environmental shock, germ cells such as sperm or oocytes were altered. Thus, this trauma imprints on the offspring even when they, the unborn children, never experienced the shock first hand. This original shock can then be experienced for generations. In my opinion, it is similar to energy that has no end.
In likeness, transgenerational trauma can be a mother experiencing trauma during pregnancy or birth, and passing to the child. Homeopathic case studies have shown that giving the offspring a remedy their parent or grandparent needed can clear these generational symptoms within the case.
Some research shows, trauma can physically alter a person making it so that they pass down these traits through family lines. One theory states that parents experiencing stress may alter the pathways to regulate stress for the offspring in early development. This idea is thought to be possible since the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is vulnerable to environmental agitation, especially in early development. (2)
“Early life exposure of the offspring to excess fetal glucocorticoid (GC) hormones or environmental perturbations, such as maternal stressors, can alter normal neuropeptide synthesis and lead to a disruption in the development of the HPA axis. This may become detrimental to the fetus later in life as it leads to abnormal physiological function in adulthood, thereby increasing the risk for adult disease.” (3)
To fully understand this, we need to be informed on the HPA axis functions and importance, like stress regulation. It consists of a group of hormone-secreting glands within the nervous and endocrine systems, which include the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands. These glands work together to calm us when we’re under stress by releasing hormones to regulate our physiological coping responses.(4)
Now that we know how the HPA axis works, it is important to understand that prolonged activation of the HPA axis can lead to many physiological and psychological disease states, initiating a multigenerational “state of disease”. (5) One study found “dysregulation of stress neurocircuitry is a fundamental feature of mood and anxiety disorders including post traumatic stress disorders found to be prevalent in the offspring” of Holocaust survivors. The research also found “low cortisol and increased glucocorticoid receptor sensitivity in the Holocaust survivors and other individuals suffering with PTSD”. This suggests that the “experience of trauma might leave long-lasting biological signatures in stress-related biology that could be a catalyst for longer-term adaptations.” (2)
Homeopath, Elizabeth Adalian, recorded a case of generational trauma originating from a Holocaust survivor within her case titled: “The Missing Equation: Transgenerational Trauma”.(6) The survivor’s son and grandchildren showed signs of the original trauma the grandfather experienced - even though they never experienced such a trauma firsthand. The son expressed symptoms of feeling like an ‘orphan’ and like a ‘fugitive on the run’. (6) His father, the Holocaust survivor, was ‘dismissive’ and ‘absent with his emotions’ towards his son.(6) This led the son to feel a sense of ‘abandonment’.(6) Elizabeth recommended the remedy Magnesium Bromatum for the son, and reported he responded well to that remedy. A few years later, she took the grandchildren’s case. She found they too required Magnesium remedies. This reminded her of the son’s case and she made the connection to the grandfather. She states: “This made me realize that the grandfather’s dysfunction had never been addressed within the family at the time the son presented to me. Even though the Holocaust – surviving father had minimum contact with his grandchildren, his influence acted as a ‘maintaining cause’ to disseminate the feelings of abandonment percolating through the generations. In fact, I believe, if the remedies had not been given at this point, the perpetuation of this ‘wound’ would have been recycled through future generations of that family.”
Homeopath Adalian observed firsthand how this trauma can pass from one generation to the next. Fortunately, she saw the connection and was able to stop this transmission and heal these open emotional wounds with the correct homeopathic remedy.(6) Observing the passing of these traumas from one generation to the next, one could make the connection that passing trauma down the generational lines could be considered a type of miasm. It is as if the offspring inherit this trauma at birth through miasmatic energy. This is a case of both transgenerational and intergenerational trauma because the grandfather passed it to his son (transgenerational) and the traumatic energy continued to the grandchildren (Intergenerational).
In observation of the example above, we can recognize that transgenerational trauma is when the mother or father experiences trauma and this experience alters their HPA axis. This alteration of the HPA axis is passed on to their offspring and the experience is also passed on energetically. One study explains children with mothers exposed to trauma in childhood, specifically emotional abuse, had higher sympathetic nervous system activation. The sympathetic nervous system stimulates the body’s fight or flight response and regulates stress. Children with that transgenerational experience would be more prone to anxiety compared to children with mothers from low emotionally abusive childhoods.(2) The same study also found that when mothers are exposed to abuse as a child, their offspring have smaller intracranial volume.(2) Not only does this type of stress impact the offspring in emotional ways but it can also affect the offspring physically.
From personal experience, I can attest to childhood trauma that has led to having offspring with an altered HPA axis. My first born son was diagnosed with PANS (Pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome) and I believe many of his symptoms are due to generational trauma. Here is my personal case to explain how I came to this conclusion and how homeopathy helped seal this childhood trauma not only in myself but also my child:
In childhood, my experience was one where I did not want to do or say the wrong thing around my father. It was a feeling of ‘walking on eggshells,’ the repeat thoughts of ‘I’ll never be good enough,’ and I often was compared to my older sibling. My nervous system was in a constant state of fight or flight around my father. As I grew, I realized I put a wall around my heart to protect myself from disappointment and from anyone letting me down. These symptoms carried over into adulthood. When I had my first child, these symptoms intensified during pregnancy and labor. As my child grew, I saw he had some of the same feelings I had growing up even though he was never exposed to the traumas or stresses I was. He was easily startled as a baby, had very high anxiety as a toddler, and his anxiety grew just as he did. He experienced a constant state of fight or flight. At four years old, he was diagnosed with PANS (Pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome). He expressed very high anxiety, oppositional defiance disorder, emotional lability, behavioral regression, tics and some autism spectrum disorder symptoms. I eventually learned the remedy I needed to clear my childhood trauma was Natrum Muriaticum. This remedy ameliorated many of my symptoms. It wasn’t until my son was eight years old that I realized how the same remedy could help him with this transgenerational experience he presented with. After realizing there is an energetic connection between mother and child I had wondered if the same remedy that helped me could help him. I decided to give my son the same remedy, Natrum Muriaticum, and his ODD, ASD, emotional lability and behavioral challenges improved over night. Some of his anxieties improved as well. The remedy I needed from my childhood trauma was the same remedy my child needed due to this generational trauma being passed to him. If my childhood trauma could have been cleared before pregnancy would this not have imprinted on him? Would he not have been as susceptible to the list of symptoms he had with his PANS diagnosis? Of course I concluded that we cannot go back in time, but with homeopathy the emotional wound can be healed and not passed down to coming generations.
In affirmation of my experience, a neurodevelopment study completed by researchers Jennifer C. Chan, Bridget M. Nugent, and Tracy L. Bale, found these generational stresses can impact children’s neurodevelopment and sometimes lead to diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and more. (7) An excerpt from the study explains how this happens: “Stress experienced during critical developmental windows when these epigenetic patterns are generated can result in reprogramming of cellular epigenomes, leading to long-term changes in patterns of gene expression and cellular function. More specifically, stress exposure can lead to such epigenetic alterations in sperm and oocytes, resulting in transmission of altered marks to the zygote. Following conception, stress exposure can also directly alter epigenetic programming of the fetus by disrupting the function of extra-embryonic tissues, including the placenta, to promote alterations in key developmental signals throughout gestation. Thus, parental stress exposures during the preconception and prenatal windows can have lasting consequences on offspring development and, subsequently, adult outcomes.” (7)
In addition, stress exposure during pregnancy tends to effect the male placenta more than the female. The stress sensitizes the HPA stress axis specifically more so in the male offspring than in the female. “Male and female placentas express differences in the gene expression, largely originating from the X and Y chromosomes.” “These sex differences may contribute to sex-specific susceptibility to prenatal perturbations, such as early prenatal stress, where males are more vulnerable.” (7)
The study goes on to explain why male offspring are more vulnerable to these neurodevelopmental impacts. “Female placental tissue (mouse and human) has nearly double the level of O-linked N-acetylglucosamine transferase (OGT) as male tissue. In addition, placental OGT levels are reduced in response to early prenatal stress exposure in both male and female tissue. Might low levels of placental OGT be responsible for producing altered HPA function and endophenotypes of autism and schizophrenia in males exposed to early prenatal stress? To test this hypothesis, we reduced OGT levels in placental trophoblasts in both sexes and found a recapitulation of the stress axis and metabolic dysregulation phenotype found previously only in males. Thus, placental OGT activity appears to be a critical mediator of the sex-specific effects of prenatal stress exposure on offspring neurodevelopmental programming.” (7). This may be the reason there are more neurodevelopmental diagnoses in male children than female, but more research needs to be done in this area.
There are cases where homeopathy has cleared these generational stresses acquired during pregnancy and have also improved the neuropsychiatric symptoms of the child. I have living proof from my own traumatic birth experience that the correct homeopathic remedy cleared the debilitating anxiety symptoms within my child.
The cases is as follows: Ten year old male child with Pediatric acute onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS) and debilitating anxiety. Family has used homeopathy for many of his other PANS symptoms with success but his anxiety remained. Mother and child experienced a traumatic birth. Mother was in labor for 24 hours due to child’s position. Mother experienced high anxiety and not being able to relax in the hospital setting. Mother and child both spiked a fever of 101 and the doctor decided it was time for a cesarean section. The mother felt completely defeated and immediately depressed. She became very disappointed in herself and felt everyone else would think she was a failure. This feeling most likely had an impact on the child at an energetic level and imprinted on him. As a baby, the child was easily startled and overwhelmed. As a toddler, he was easily frustrated to the point it was exhausting for the parents to enjoy any game or playtime with him because he would become so frustrated with anything that didn’t go his way. As a young child, he wanted to play sports with the other children but would cry from being overwhelmed with the game or cry and get angry when he lost. He also struggled with anticipation anxiety and would become inconsolable at the thought of not knowing what to do specifically while playing a game or with anything that was just supposed to be fun. He’d always had a very distinctive cry when upset. It was a long, drawn out cry ever since a baby. It was so distinctive that the parents could be across a football field and would know when he was upset. His inconsolable nature created embarrassing experiences and judgement from observers.
Upon studying generational trauma, the connection was made between the mother’s birth experience and the remedy needed for the child’s anxiety. Ignatia remedy had the same keynotes for disappointment that was experienced during child birth, being that Ignatia is a grief remedy and the mother experienced grief and shock during labor that impacted the child. Interesting enough, the child’s “long drawn out cry” was also a keynote for Ignatia. Ignatia was never thought of as a remedy match for him since he had not experienced a grief, shock or disappointment himself to indicate it as a remedy. Also, Ignatia is not an anxiety remedy but after the first dose the child’s anxiety disappeared. It has now been 11 weeks since the child’s first dose of ignatia 6c and he is able to play team sports without any anxiety or fears. His “long drawn out cry” has not been heard since starting the remedy. In my observation, Ignatia has cleared the old layer of the mother’s disappointing birth trauma that imprinted on the child. Thus, the child is able to function as he was designed to.
Other homeopathic cases of birth trauma and neurodevelopmental impacts are recorded and one is a five year old boy with autism. Before the child was conceived, the mother had a miscarriage. This left the mother feeling overprotective of her pregnancy, with anxiety and worry about the health of her son in-utero. At 4 years old, her son was diagnosed autistic. The mother reported her son has “lack of focus,” wants things his way, lack of spatial awareness, and has a difficult time following instructions. The indicated homeopathic remedy was given to the child and many of the child’s symptoms improved. (8)
More pregnancy and birth trauma cases connecting to neurodevelopmental symptoms to offspring can be found in the book, “Homeopathy for Birth Trauma,” by Harry van der Zee, MD. More research needs to be done to study multi-generational traumas. It would also be beneficial to see more homeopathic cases with matching remedies to clear these generational traumas. I have personally seen the impact and benefits that homeopathy provides within my own family but I feel a broader study would be useful, and I intend to make an impact in this way as a professional homeopath.
I believe homeopathy has the means to clear these inherited traumas on an energetic level and to keep them from passing on to the next generation. With more research and education, this information could have a very positive impact for future generations.
REFERENCES
1. Klengel, T., Dias, B. & Ressler, K. Models of Intergenerational and Transgenerational Transmission of Risk for Psychopathology in Mice. Neuropsychopharmacol 41, 219–231 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2015.249
2. Yehuda, R., Lehrner, A. Intergenerational transmission of trauma effects: putative role of epigenetic mechanisms. World Psychiatry 17:3, (October 2018). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6127768/
3. Sheng Julietta A., Bales Natalie J., Myers Sage A., Bautista Anna I., Roueinfar Mina, Hale Taben M., Handa Robert J. The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis: Development, Programming Actions of Hormones, and Maternal-Fetal Interactions. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, Vol. 14, (2021). https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnbeh.2020.601939
4. Neuroscientifically Challenged. (2018, July 28). 2-Minute Neuroscience: HPA Axis [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAeBKRaNri0
5. Herman, J.P., McKlveen, J.M., Ghosal, S., Kopp, B., Wulsin, A., Makinson, R., Scheimann, J., Myers, B. Regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical stress response. Comprehensive Physiology, Vol. 6, Issue 2, (2016, April). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cphy.c150015
6. Adalian, E., The Missing Equation: Transgenerational Trauma. Hpathy, (2014, September 17). https://hpathy.com/clinical-cases/missing-equation-transgenerational-trauma/
7. Chan, J.C., Nugent, B.M., Bale, T.L. Parental advisory: maternal and paternal stress can impact offspring neurodevelopment. Biol Psychiatry, Author manuscript; available in PMC (2019, May 15). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5899063/pdf/nihms912729.pdf
8. Lewis, E., Lewis, S. Revisiting: A Case of Autism in a 5-year-old. Hpathy, (2019, June 18). https://hpathy.com/case-quizes/revisiting-a-case-of-autism-in-a-5-year-old/