Trauma is big news right now. Mainstream media is full of stories in regards to the dramatic improvements allowing science to find out more clearly how trauma affects our bodies, minds and even our genes. Most of the coverage hails the scientific connection between trauma and illness as a breakthrough for modern medicine. The following breakthrough are going to be how trauma affects our offspring.

The science of epigenetics, literally “above the gene,” proposes that people pass on more than DNA in our genes; it implies that our genes can hold memories of trauma experienced by our ancestors and can influence exactly how we respond to trauma and stress. The Academy of Pediatrics reports that the way in which genes work in our anatomies determines neuroendocrine structure and is strongly affected by experience. [Neuroendocrine cells assist the nervous and endocrine (hormonal) system work together to produce substances such as adrenaline…