Understanding Transgenerational

What is transgenerational?

Transgenerational refers to the influence that the experiences, traumas, beliefs, emotions, and behaviors of previous generations can have on current generations, often unconsciously. This silent transmission occurs not only through education and family narratives, but also through deep psychological, emotional, and biological mechanisms.

"What memory fails to tell, the body and behaviors come to remind us."

— Inspired by the work of M. De Hennezel and J. Salomé

Robert Brambora

A concept based in science

This concept, long reserved for psychoanalysis or certain alternative therapeutic approaches, has found echoes in recent scientific research, notably in epigenetics , psychogenealogy , and psychotraumatology .

🔬 Epigenetics : biological proof

Epigenetics studies how the environment influences the expression of our genes without altering their structure. Research led by Rachel Yehuda (Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai), among others, has shown that the children of Holocaust survivors have similar epigenetic modifications to their parents, particularly in receptors for the stress hormone cortisol. (Yehuda et al., Biological Psychiatry, 2016)

This means that intense trauma experienced by one generation can biologically “prime” subsequent generations for similar stress responses, even without direct exposure to the initial trauma.

🧠 Psychogenealogy : the language of the family unconscious

Popularized by Anne Ancelin Schützenberger in her book Ouch, My Ancestors!, psychogenealogy explores unconscious repetitions in family lines: patterns of failure, illnesses, accidents, career or partner choices. It highlights how unresolved events from the past can replay themselves in an individual's life, until they are brought into conscious awareness.

⚙️ The psychology of trauma : transmitted memory

Clinicians like Boris Cyrulnik have also highlighted the importance of traumatic family memory. When a painful event cannot be verbalized or symbolized (bereavement, exile, abuse, war, etc.), it can be transmitted through unspoken words, silences, irrational fears, or “invisible loyalties,” a concept developed by Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy.