Cross-Generational Trauma and Personality: The Interplay of Genetics, Epigenetics, and Healing
Trauma does not exist in isolation. It is carried through generations, shaping not just individuals but entire families and cultures. At the Healing Through Somatic Attachment 2025 Summit, renowned psychiatrist and author Dr. Dan Siegel delivered a compelling session on Cross-Generational Trauma and Personality: How Overwhelming Experiences, Genetics, and Epigenetic Inheritance Shape Who We Are and Who We Can Become.
Through his deep exploration of attachment, neuroscience, and epigenetics, Dr. Siegel illuminated how trauma influences not only our psychological experiences but also our very biology - altering gene expression, shaping personality, and impacting how we relate to ourselves and others.
Trauma Beyond the Individual: The Role of Attachment and Culture
Trauma does not exist in isolation. It carries through generations, shaping not just individuals but entire families and cultures. It impacts your psychological experiences, alters gene expression, influences personality, and affects how you relate to yourself and others.
Understanding trauma requires looking beyond personal experiences and considering the larger context. Attachment relationships within families play a crucial role, but trauma is also shaped by cultural and systemic forces. The violation of epistemic trust - when caregivers or cultural leaders create false realities - leads to deep distress that can span generations.
Epistemic trust refers to your ability to trust the information provided by caregivers and society. When caregivers offer inconsistent or harmful messages, this trust breaks, leading to confusion, self-doubt, and intergenerational distress. Unresolved trauma within individuals does not stay contained - it ripples outward, contributing to larger societal issues. When trauma remains unhealed, it can cause people to stop seeing others as fully human, perpetuating cycles of harm.
Epigenetics and the Inherited Burden of Trauma
Trauma is not only psychologically inherited - it is also biologically passed down through epigenetic mechanisms. Epigenetics refers to molecular changes that sit on top of DNA and influence which genes are expressed.
For example, a child in the womb of a mother experiencing extreme trauma - such as war, displacement, or chronic stress - may develop epigenetic adaptations that affect stress regulation. Siegel shares his own family history, recounting how his grandmother’s traumatic experience of witnessing violence while pregnant may have altered the genetic expression of her offspring. “Her children - and their children - carried the hypervigilance, distrust, and sensitivity that originated in that moment,” he said.
This understanding of epigenetic inheritance helps us see how trauma can persist across generations, not simply as a learned behavior but as an embodied physiological response.
The Fundamental Needs Shaped by Trauma
Three core human drives influence development and are deeply affected by trauma:
Agency: The need to feel a sense of control and effectiveness in meeting your own needs.
Bonding: The drive for secure, meaningful relationships.
Certainty: The desire for predictability and safety in your environment.
When these needs are disrupted - whether by neglect, abuse, or cultural oppression - you develop survival strategies that shape your personality patterns. Trauma assaults your capacity for agency, bonding, and certainty, Dan explains “It forces us into coping mechanisms that can later feel like prisons.”
From Trauma to Personality: Adaptive Strategies and Patterns
Personality is not fixed but is shaped by the interaction of temperament (inborn traits) and attachment experiences (relational shaping). Through his research, he has identified nine primary personality patterns that emerge from this interplay. Trauma can push individuals toward the more rigid, lower-functioning aspects of their personality pattern, while healing allows for integration and flexibility.
Inward-Oriented Personalities: Prone to deep introspection but may struggle with feeling disconnected or overly self-critical.
Outward-Oriented Personalities: Focused on external validation and action, but at risk of avoiding inner emotional work.
Balanced (Diadic) Personalities: Hold both inner and outer awareness but may struggle with feeling torn between extremes.
Each of these personality tendencies, when shaped by trauma, can lead to patterns such as excessive perfectionism, avoidance, over-responsibility, or chronic uncertainty.
Breaking the Cycle: Healing Through Integration
The good news? Healing is possible. Dr. Siegel stresses that our inherited wounds do not have to define our future. “It’s never too late to move toward wholeness.” Healing trauma requires creating conditions where individuals can safely rebuild their core needs of agency, bonding, and certainty.
Key pathways for healing include:
Cultivating Secure Attachment: Whether through therapy, relationships, or self-parenting, individuals can create secure emotional environments that were missing in childhood.
Self-Compassion and Presence: Learning to relate to one’s experiences with curiosity rather than self-judgment allows for emotional regulation and integration.
Somatic Awareness and Regulation: Since trauma is stored in the body, practices such as mindfulness, breathwork, and movement therapy can be transformative.
Healing is not about eliminating pain but about creating new, integrative pathways for experiencing life. Personality does not have to feel like a prison - it can become a playground for growth, connection, and transformation. When you move toward integration, you do not just heal yourself - you change what you pass on to future generations.
Final Reflections
Cross-generational trauma shapes personality, but healing restores integration. By recognizing how trauma influences your responses and taking active steps to rebuild secure attachment and self-awareness, you create the possibility of a different future.
“The past is not our destiny. Through awareness and integration, we have the power to reshape our narratives and break the cycles of intergenerational trauma.”
At The Embody Lab, we are committed to sharing transformative knowledge that bridges neuroscience, somatic healing, and attachment work. Dr. Siegel’s research is a vital contribution to this mission, reminding us that the past is not destiny - healing is always possible.
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