Events in which a real death or threat of death occurs, serious injury or a threat to bodily integrity occurs, and which the person himself experiences or witnesses are called traumatic experiences. Traumatic experiences, psychologically, such as natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, wars, sexual or physical assault, torture, sexual harassment, childhood abuse, traffic accidents, work accidents, being diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, witnessing a dangerous event, etc. It covers traumatic events that are challenging and negatively affect the person's ability to cope.
Traumatic experiences are seen to be experiences that occur during the normal flow of life and negatively affect individuals' adaptation to life by disabling their coping mechanisms. Moreover, unlike ordinary misfortunes, traumatic events usually involve threats to the life or integrity of the victims and cause significant and effective physical and psychological injury symptoms on individuals.
At the same time, during trauma, individuals are helpless by a destructive force. It is also noteworthy that it has been made It seems that psychological trauma is a situation where a person confronts his powerlessness, weakness and helplessness. In this respect, traumatic experiences disrupt the normal behavioral system that gives people a sense of control, connection, and meaning. In this context, it is argued that psychological trauma requires individuals to make changes in their lives and requires re-adaptation on the part of individuals.
In addition, if the trauma experienced is very severe, lasts a long time and occurs as a result of a deliberate event, individuals usually first experience great trauma. They feel terror and alienation, and these feelings are then followed by depression and guilt. It is observed that these feelings dull over time and individuals experience a very deep dissociation. In fact, it is noteworthy that it no longer makes a difference for individuals whether they live or not, and eventually individuals become living dead.
On the other hand, another devastating effect of trauma is that only the victim of what happened. not; also with the next generation It also affects and imprisons people. In this context, it is argued that individuals' chronic traumatic experiences during their childhood dissociate them and cause the intergenerational transfer of trauma to a large extent in the future in the form of a vicious circle.
In studies conducted with intergenerational trauma transmission, trauma is only affected by exposure to the traumatic event. It is seen that it is not limited to the people or the environment, but also affects the generations that follow. The testimonies of children and adults who have experienced serious traumatic experiences such as war and genocide at some point in their lives and who survived as a result of these traumatic experiences are described as "secondary-vicarious trauma" and secondary trauma victims suffer from many problems, especially post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and dissociative disorders. Many mental problems and diseases can occur. It is observed that individuals who experience secondary trauma can also transfer the traces and effects of this experience to their close family members. The phenomenon defined as intergenerational trauma transmission has emerged within the framework of views that this transmission can extend over time from the generation that directly or indirectly experiences the primary trauma to subsequent generations. Carl Gustav Jung formulated the concept of the collective unconscious regarding the intergenerational transmission of trauma and stated that human beings; He stated that it has a collective knowledge that is transmitted from generation to generation through symbols, emotional states and types of people's behavior. In this regard, it is seen that traumatic psychological problems are not specific to that person, but should be considered as a phenomenon that affects generations.
In addition, family and its structure are of great importance in intergenerational trauma transmission. When looking at family structures in terms of psychopathology, it is noteworthy that there are three types of family models. These; normal family, apparently normal family (dysfunctional family) and pathological family model. In the normal family model, parents are people who have not received a psychiatric diagnosis. In a seemingly normal family, there is a child who is diagnosed and parents who are generally undiagnosed but present with subthreshold diagnostic criteria. In a pathological family, almost all of the family members are at their worst. It consists of individuals with a psychiatric diagnosis.
Pathological relationships with traumatic people create traumatic effects on the person. It is noticeable that in the transmission of intergenerational trauma, the pathology is transmitted to the victim and all family members other than the victim. The fact that everyone in the abuser-victim relationship can be both victim and victim is an important example that explains the intergenerational transmission of trauma.
Clinical observations and experimental studies show that traumatic experiences do not only affect the people exposed to trauma, but also affect the important people in their lives. . The theory of intergenerational transmission of trauma argues that the effects of traumatic experiences experienced by one family member can also be seen in the younger family member. It is noteworthy that the young family member does not need to be directly exposed to trauma for this effect to occur, and in fact, this person may be born even after the traumatic experience is over.
In addition, from the perspective of psychohistory, child-rearing styles are an important factor in the formation of childhood traumas. has a role. Exposure to childhood trauma also affects the child-rearing styles of parents or caregivers. As a result of the transfer of child-rearing styles from generation to generation, it is observed that childhood traumas are applied by families and are passed primarily from mother to daughter. Parents may have the ability to reprocess their own childhood traumas and approach their own children in a slightly better light from generation to generation. If caregivers and parents, especially mothers, raise their children with positive child-rearing styles in a supportive manner and if these child-rearing styles are supported by society, changes in historical personalities can occur. If girls are raised with negative child-rearing styles and are mistreated, they will not be able to reprocess their own traumas when they become mothers and will reflect this process on their children through an intergenerational transmission. Failure to develop a child-rearing style in a society may lead to the stagnation or collapse of that society in terms of economy, culture, art and social life.
When studies in the field of trauma are examined, it can be seen that there are errors. It is noteworthy that child-rearing styles have as important and negative effects on an individual's mental health as traumatic experiences. It can be said that if each growing generation inflicts childhood traumas on their children, these children will grow up as problematic individuals in society and will pass this trauma on to the next generations. In this context, it can be said that significant changes in child-rearing styles will ensure social and political change in society. It is obvious that societies with advanced, integrative child-rearing styles that give importance to the child's mental health have a great impact on raising a new generation that is better equipped, knowing the value of knowledge, people and being human in the intergenerational process, and correctly applying solution-oriented techniques in all kinds of crisis environments. .
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