How can you recognize an inherited emotion?

Let’s start with the basics: What is an emotion?

An emotion is an intense, brief psychophysiological reaction that arises in response to a stimulus perceived as meaningful. It has three main components:

• Physiological: the body reacts — heart races, breathing shifts, muscles tense.

• Cognitive: the brain identifies the situation and gives it meaning.

• Behavioral: it triggers an action (running away, crying, shouting, freezing...).

  
  

According to the research of Paul Ekman, the six universally recognized primary emotions are:

• Joy

• Sadness

• Fear

• Anger

• Disgust

• Surprise

  
  

These emotions are biological; they help us survive and adapt to our environment.

However, when emotions become overwhelming, chronic, or hard to understand, they may be signaling a transgenerational emotional inheritance.

Robert Brambora

When an Emotion Doesn’t Belong to Us

Some Emotions We Feel Don’t Originate in Our Own Life Story. They arise without an obvious reason, or their intensity is disproportionate to the situation. These are often inherited emotions, echoes of past family traumas passed down unconsciously.

"It's stronger than me." — A phrase often heard in sessions.

Signs You May Be Carrying an Inherited Emotion

Here are a few clues that can reveal the presence of transgenerational emotional memory:

1. An intense, unexplainable emotion

Example: A panic fear of fire or water, with no personal experience to justify it.

When exploring the family tree, it may be discovered that an ancestor died in a fire or by drowning.

2. An emotional reaction that doesn’t match the situation

Example: Overwhelming sadness after a simple life change (like moving or a temporary separation), which may reflect a memory of exile or abandonment experienced by a family member.

3. Recurring emotions, despite personal work

You’ve been through therapy, you understand your patterns… but the same anger keeps coming back?

It might be a silent rage from an ancestor that was never expressed — now “seeking a voice” through you.

4. Striking coincidences in dates

Birthdays, death anniversaries, emotional breakups — some dates repeat across generations.

This is known in psychogenealogy as “anniversary syndrome.”

5. Emotions tied to family secrets or unspoken truths

Family silence often creates emotional burdens that go unexpressed.

These unspoken emotions don’t disappear — they remain in the lineage, unconsciously imprinted on descendants.

"What isn't spoken is carried by the body or the unconscious."

An inherited emotion is an invitation to heal.

Carrying an emotion that doesn’t belong to us is like walking with a suitcase we've never opened. It feels heavy, and we don’t know why. But once we open it, we often uncover someone else’s story… along with the opportunity to free an entire lineage.

"You are not responsible for what you have inherited, but you are responsible for what you do with it." — Carl Gustav Jung