Can Psychedelics Heal Intergenerational Trauma

Intergenerational (also known as generational trauma or ancestral trauma) refers to the idea that trauma can be passed down through the generations, affecting those who didn’t directly experience it. It is the notion that unresolved traumas, pain, and suffering experienced by past generations influence the emotional well-being of those who exist today. Examples of intergenerational trauma can include previous generations’ experiences of colonisation, slavery, racism, oppression, war, genocide, famine, and extreme poverty.

It has been claimed that the effects of intergenerational trauma include:

• Unexplained emotional turmoil (which is the unresolved emotional pain of past generations)
• Repetitive patterns and behaviours (e.g. an unrelenting worry about money due to one’s ancestors facing significant financial hardship)
• Relationship changes (patterns of strained or dysfunctional relationships in one’s family – brought on by the effects of trauma – may unconsciously repeat in relationships outside the family)

Curiously, the theme of intergenerational trauma can be common in psychedelic experiences. This can manifest as visions, insights, and emotional breakthroughs related to (what is perceived as) the trauma experienced by one’s ancestors. This ancestral trauma may relate to the hardships experienced by one’s parents or grandparents, or it may extend much further back, involving the trauma experienced by one’s ancestors hundreds of years ago or perhaps even millennia ago.

Because of this recurring theme in psychedelic states – and increasing attention paid to the concept of intergenerational trauma in genetics and psychotherapy – many in the field of psychedelic therapy believe that psychedelics can heal this form of trauma. Nevertheless, it is not clear if experiencing this theme in an altered state is evidence of unearthing memories of ancestral trauma, as is sometimes claimed. Moreover, the science of intergenerational trauma is still being debated. Based on the current evidence, psychedelics may play a role in resolving ancestral trauma depending on how ‘ancestral trauma’ is defined. As will be explained in this article, psychedelics may achieve this through epigenetic changes, as well as through ‘set and setting’ and the post-psychedelic integration phrase.

In spiritual, New Age, wellness, and psychedelic circles, some people believe that memories of ancestral trauma can be inherited – encoded into one’s DNA. This is similar to Carl Jung’s theory of archetypes, which posits that humans inherit a ‘collective unconscious’: a store of universal mental patterns – such as the Mother, Hero, Child, Shadow, and Trickster – that Jung refers to as ‘archetypes’. However, the inheritance of ancestral traumatic memories differs from this theory, as it advances the idea that specific memories of one’s ancestors are inherited. According to Jung’s theory of archetypes, in contrast, what is inherited is based on the collective experiences of humanity; the mental contents are not related to a specific generation or event. In any case, this framing of intergenerational trauma has not been scientifically validated. There is currently no evidence to suggest that the memories of one’s ancestors can be inherited.

What is gaining more traction in the scientific community, however, is the notion that trauma is passed down genetically through epigenetic changes. (Epigenetics is the study of heritable traits that occur without changes to the DNA sequence. Behaviours and the environment can change gene expression – without altering DNA – and these genetic changes can be inherited.) A growing number of studies support the notion that the effects of trauma are inherited through epigenetic changes; both human and animal studies show that experiences of hardship can leave genetic marks on offspring.

For example, a 2015 study by Rachel Yehuda et al. found that the children of Holocaust survivors had epigenetic changes to a gene that controlled levels of cortisol (a hormone involved in the stress response). However, it’s worth stressing that some scientists criticised the conclusion of the study. It is not certain that this effect was due to epigenetic inheritance. Yehuda also acknowledges that the study was blown out of proportion in media coverage and notes that larger studies are needed before any firm conclusions are made. Yehuda and Amy Lehrner state in a 2019 review published in World Psychiatry:

The most compelling work to date has been done in animal models, where the opportunity for controlled designs enables clear interpretations of transmissible effects. Given the paucity of human studies and the methodological challenges in conducting such studies, it is not possible to attribute intergenerational effects in humans to a single set of biological or other determinants at this time. Elucidating the role of epigenetic mechanisms in intergenerational effects through prospective, multi‐generational studies may ultimately yield a cogent understanding of how individual, cultural and societal experiences permeate our biology.

Nonetheless, Yehuda has continued to bring attention to the new science of intergenerational trauma informed by epigenetics and how it can inform treatment. She points out in an article for Scientific American that the trauma of our ancestors may affect gestation and the mother’s eggs and father’s sperm before children are conceived. She says that “all these channels seem to involve epigenetics: alterations in the way that genes function. Epigenetics potentially explains why effects of trauma may endure long after the immediate threat is gone, and it is also implicated in the diverse pathways by which trauma is transmitted to future generations.”

She adds:

An important question is whether epigenetic alterations in stress-related genes, particularly those reflected in the offspring of traumatized parents, are necessarily markers of vulnerability or whether they may reflect a mechanism through which offspring become better equipped to cope with adversity. This is an area we're actively exploring.

It is tempting to interpret epigenetic inheritance as a story of how trauma results in permanent damage. Epigenetic influences might nonetheless represent the body's attempts to prepare offspring for challenges similar to those encountered by their parents. As circumstances change, however, the benefits conferred by such alterations may wane or even result in the emergence of novel vulnerabilities. Thus, the survival advantage of this form of intergenerational transmission depends in large part on the environment encountered by the offspring themselves.

Moreover, some of these stress-related and intergenerational changes may be reversible. Several years ago we discovered that combat veterans with PTSD who benefited from cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy showed treatment-induced changes in FKBP5 methylation [which is involved in the regulation of the stress response]. The finding confirmed that healing is also reflected in epigenetic change.”

Yehuda also underlines that “[t]he most apparent route [through which adverse experiences affect children] runs through parental behavior”. She adds, “How traumatized parents interact with their children, of course, also influences their development.

It is not yet clear to what degree the effects of intergenerational trauma are passed down psychologically or epigenetically. However this new science of intergenerational trauma unfolds, what does deserve greater attention is how emotional suffering gets passed down from one generation to the next. The more that this mechanism of inheritance is understood, the easier it will be to resolve it. But what has been apparent, as Yehuda highlights, is that interventions designed to tackle the psychological effects of trauma (e.g. cognitive-behavioural therapy) also impact gene expression. Indeed, psychology and epigenetics are closely intertwined.

Many trip reports include mentions of ancestral trauma: these are experiences interpreted in the framework of such trauma. This could involve emotionally heavy visions or insights about the specific ways in which one’s ancestors suffered trauma. More psychedelic organisations, practitioners, and advocates are starting to suggest that these experiences can be part of healing one’s emotional wounds, although they may differ in their interpretation of how this therapeutic process occurs. For example, an article on the Field Trip Health website states:

[K]etamine therapy can help you reframe your relationship to your cultural history and identity. Through the work with psychedelic medicines, you can experience a profound sense of interconnectedness with all of humanity, leading to a greater sense of empathy and compassion for yourself and for others. This can help you embrace your identity with greater pride, as well as cultivate forgiveness for what may have happened to your ancestors.

Nonetheless, some of the language used seems to advance the notion that the trauma is inherited in the form of mental contents. The article continues:

To forgive is to release and let go of anything that does not serve your mind, body, and spirit to the highest regard.

It also states:

This treatment can help you access and process deeply ingrained emotions related to ancestral trauma, and uncovering the roots of these challenges could help you move through them. As we have covered in previous articles, ketamine works on the brain’s Default Mode Network, which is responsible for your perception of the way things are and how they are supposed to be. This can allow you to confront painful memories and emotions from a different mental vantage point, leading to a greater sense of emotional release and catharsis.

It is worth re-emphasising that research does not currently support the notion of inherited memories. An article on the Behold Retreats website promotes this view of ancestral trauma, which is connected to the idea – also popular in psychedelic circles – that trauma is stored in the body’s cells. It states:

They [psychedelics] are called ancestral medicines for a reason, and our ancestors have been using them for thousands of years to heal and to deepen their spirituality. These medicines, such as ayahuasca and psilocybin work with the information in the cell and the experiences and memories stored there to bring them to our attention and daily consciousness. A traumatic experience in one’s life or an intergenerational trauma from their ancestors might be brought up to one’s consciousness to be seen, felt, and healed.

The article uses our current scientific understanding of epigenetics to draw such conclusions. It refers to the work of Tanya Rosenthal, a body-focused coach, psychotherapist, Kundalini yoga teacher, musician healer, and medicine woman who works for Behold Retreats:

Tanya confirms that clinical research based on neurology shows that experience and knowledge in our system and body contains information from our blood lineage and ancestry. Studies in neurobiology and psychiatry show how big, overwhelming, or painful experiences can change or shape our DNA. These burdens or blessings are stored in our cell memory and produce genetic changes. She explains how “it can feel like ‘this is bigger than me,’ ‘I was born this way,’ or ‘there’s no point trying to change,’” and that “every experience that is not healed or being resolved is somewhere in the information field of our bodies.”

The article posits that psychedelics heal ancestral trauma by working with the “spiritual and energetic realm” and that ancestral trauma is stored in the body (or our “energetic bodies”). However, even the claim that individual trauma is (literally) stored in the body has been met with criticism. The additional claim that such stored trauma can be inherited is also contentious.

Psychedelics may be able to heal intergenerational trauma without referring to stored and inherited traumatic memories or spiritual and energetic approaches. For example, Joseph McCowan, a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist, was interviewed by Sean Lawlor at Chacruna on the subject of healing intergenerational trauma through psychedelic therapy. McCowan explains:

It’s trauma that spans generations. If we look at Indigenous populations who endured colonization, such as the Native Americans in the United States, there’s the direct traumatic experiences for those folks that comes with genocide and relocation and forced migration; but there’s also a legacy of these harms on families and communities and an entire culture. Currently, there are Native Americans and African Americans, just to name a couple of groups, who are carrying that trauma within their families and communities. There’s also an embodied stress that can be a part of one’s experience due to continuing to live under racist and oppressive systems.

He adds:

The legacy and the harms of slavery and colonization continue to live on to this day within our bodies, as well as in the experiences we have within the larger systems and structures around us that continue to be traumatizing, even if it looks different than a whip to the back.

McCowan argues that psychedelic therapy can be helpful in the following ways:

Psychedelics can help deepen our capacity to be with what’s difficult, and to connect more deeply with ourselves. People of color with conditions like depression or trauma might be able to view themselves through a lens of compassion; perhaps, for the first time. If we are able to see or process things in new ways, sometimes that alternate angle or shift in perspective can support us in finding new meanings in our lives and relationships, with each other, and with our world. Not only is this empowering, but it provides a foundation for transformational experiences.

By viewing ‘ancestral trauma’ as a type of trauma (e.g. racial trauma) that has repeated across generations, we do not have to view it through the lens of any New Age concepts. Furthermore, recognising the reality and wide-ranging effects of this intergenerational trauma in a psychedelic state can be an opportunity to experience self-compassion, compassion for one’s ancestors, emotional catharsis, and the emotionally-based motivation to address the systemic roots of existing oppression, which continues to leave emotional wounds on oneself and others. Hence, psychedelics can play a role in the healing of intergenerational trauma without the need to invoke the idea of inherited memories.

Another role for psychedelic therapy in healing intergenerational trauma is by working with family dynamics – which can be strained through the effects of intergenerational trauma – through the preparation, dosing, and integration phases of the treatment. Different psychotherapeutic approaches may be helpful in this respect, including cognitive-behavioural, psychodynamic, relational, family-based, and trauma-focused approaches.

The reason ancestral trauma may crop up as a theme in someone’s psychedelic experience may be because that person is carrying around (consciously or unconsciously) such trauma. When parents or grandparents describe their emotional wounds to children, or one learns of them from elsewhere, this can leave strong impressions on children. As psychological material, this can become magnified in altered states of consciousness, perhaps manifesting as particular visions, thoughts, emotions, or insights. Exploring and addressing intergenerational trauma may also be a conscious intention that one brings to a psychedelic session.

Additionally, if you plan on taking a psychedelic (in any context) and you think the theme of ancestral trauma could (or should) arise for the sake of personal healing, this expectation can encourage that very experience to occur. Narratives in the psychedelic community can – like narratives in Indigenous cultures – prime people to have particular kinds of experiences. Whatever the reason for an ‘ancestral-type’ experience, many people find it emotionally profound – and in ways that help enhance their mental well-being.

I also want to draw attention to the link between psychedelics and epigenetics, as this can present another way in which psychedelics may heal the effects of intergenerational trauma. Several studies have found that psychedelics can lead to epigenetic changes (see here, here, and here), and researchers have suggested these effects may help drive therapeutic outcomes (see here and here). Yehuda was involved in one of these studies, which suggests that “therapy-related PTSD symptom improvements may be related to DNA methylation changes in HPA [hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal] genes and such changes may be greater in those receiving MDMA-assisted therapy.” (Previous research has found that changes in HPA genes predict successful psychotherapy treatment for PTSD. The HPA genes the researchers examined – FKBP5 and NR3C1 – are also affected by intergenerational trauma.)

It is, therefore, possible that psychedelics help heal intergenerational trauma through changes in genes implicated in this form of trauma. However, further research is needed to see if this is what is happening and to what extent this is driving the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics. In addition, MDMA is a non-classic psychedelic. It doesn’t affect the brain in the same way psilocybin does. So we also need additional studies to see if classic psychedelics (e.g. psilocybin, mescaline, LSD, and DMT) also can induce epigenetic changes in genes affected by trauma.

On the other hand, we know that another gene – BDNF, which codes for brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a growth factor involved in neuroplasticity – can undergo changes prior to birth. The authors of a 2017 study published in Clinical Epigenetics report:

This is the first study in humans to examine BDNF methylation in relation to prenatal exposure to maternal stress in three tissues simultaneously and the first in any mammalian species to report associations of prenatal stress and BDNF methylation in placental tissue. The findings add to the growing body of evidence highlighting the importance of considering epigenetic effects when examining the impacts of trauma and stress, not only for adults but also for offspring exposed via effects transmitted before birth.

Crucially, psychedelic researchers have suggested that psychedelics may enhance neuroplasticity by increasing BDNF. In this way, one way that these compounds may alleviate emotional distress is by correcting low BDNF levels, as some studies (not all studies) have found a correlation between BDNF levels and symptom severity in PTSD. When it comes to other health conditions – such as major depression – researchers have also linked psychedelic-induced neuroplasticity, driven by BDNF receptor activation, to the alleviation of symptoms.

Because of these genetic and brain changes, it is possible that non-hallucinogenic psychedelics may be able to heal intergenerational trauma. These are analogues of existing psychedelic compounds that don’t produce psychedelic effects but still promote beneficial effects like neuroplasticity. This would be a promising option for those who want to address their intergenerational trauma safely and effectively without having to commit to one or more psychedelic experiences. It would also mean one could avoid most of the risks associated with psychedelic use. Furthermore, this option would be safer for those who may face greater risks when using psychedelics, including those with a personal or family history of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

On the other hand, for less vulnerable populations, the acute subjective effects of a psychedelic may help address intergenerational trauma in ways that aren’t possible if the trip is taken out. Addressing intergenerational trauma in the psychedelic state itself, as well as processing this experience afterwards with a psychotherapist, may be key to meaningfully and reliably healing from this kind of trauma. This is another area worth studying. Much remains uncertain both about the nature of intergenerational trauma and to what extent psychedelics can play a role in treating its effects.