Across India, an increasing number of women are becoming more aware of their emotional worlds. Yet many still find themselves struggling with anxieties, persistent self-doubt, unexplained shame or relationship patterns that feel strangely familiar—echoes of the women who came before them. These experiences are not imagined; they reflect the quiet but powerful influence of intergenerational trauma, sometimes described as emotional inheritance.
This concept is not about blame. It is about understanding how experiences—especially painful or overwhelming ones—can be passed down across generations through biology, relationships and cultural expectations. With awareness, these inherited patterns can be recognised, softened and transformed.
Why this conversation matters now
Today’s women are navigating a complex intersection of tradition, aspiration and change. Many carry emotional roles inherited from earlier generations while also breaking new ground in education, work and autonomy. Understanding emotional inheritance provides a framework to:
*Recognise that not all struggles originate in one’s own lifetime
*Identify patterns passed silently through families, and
*Open doors to more compassionate and effective forms of support.
This is not a negative story—it is an opportunity to understand ourselves more deeply and respond with greater clarity and care.
How trauma moves through biology
Trauma does not simply reside in memory. Research in epigenetics shows that intense or prolonged stress can influence how genes are expressed, particularly those involved in the body’s stress-regulation system (the HPA axis).
For women, this has specific implications. When a woman experiences severe trauma, the shifts in her stress response can influence pregnancy and early childhood development, shaping how her child’s nervous system reacts to stress. Public health data further show that adverse childhood experiences are linked to higher rates of depression, chronic illness and suicidality later in life. Women are also statistically more vulnerable than men to developing post-traumatic stress symptoms after difficult events.
However, the same science makes one thing clear: biological imprints are not permanent. The brain and body are responsive, adaptable and capable of healing in safe, supportive environments.
How trauma moves through relationships
Emotional inheritance also travels through the ways families relate to one another. Attachment research shows that children learn how to manage emotions through early interactions with caregivers. When a caregiver is consistently overwhelmed, hyper-alert, emotionally withdrawn or unpredictable due to their own unresolved trauma, the child internalises these cues. Over time, such adaptations may show up as anxiety, emotional numbness, heightened sensitivity or a tendency to seek safety in ways that no longer serve them.
These transmissions are often subtle: the tone used during conflict, the stories families avoid, the emotions considered “acceptable,” or the ways people cope under stress. Families also pass down strength, courage and resilience. Emotional inheritance is not only about what hurts—it is also about what protects.
Why women often carry more
Women’s emotional inheritance interacts with longstanding social expectations. From girlhood, many are taught to suppress anger, prioritise caregiving and shoulder emotional responsibility. Such expectations contribute to higher rates of anxiety and depression among women globally.
Women also carry the emotional residues of broader collective histories—colonisation, displacement, caste-based discrimination, racism and economic instability. Even when the original events took place generations earlier, the narratives and social realities that remain can shape how descendants understand safety and belonging.
How culture shapes what we carry
Cultural context influences what gets passed on and how. In some families, resilience is emphasised, but pain is never named. In others, stories of suffering are repeated but not resolved. Migrant families may carry layered stress involving identity, belonging and economic pressure. In collectivist cultures, women often feel responsible for maintaining harmony, leading them to suppress their own distress.
Without recognising these contexts, mental health care risks treating symptoms without acknowledging the deeper generational threads beneath them.
Resilience is also inherited
The hopeful truth is that healing passes from one generation to the next just as trauma can. Protective factors shown to buffer intergenerational trauma include:
*the presence of at least one emotionally stable, nurturing caregiver,
*supportive community networks,
*opportunities to make meaning of difficult events, and
*access to trauma-informed care and safe environments.
Neuroscience now confirms that positive relational experiences can reorganise stress pathways. Even biological markers shaped by trauma can shift meaningfully when women feel supported, understood and safe.
Pathways to breaking the cycle
Breaking intergenerational trauma requires action at multiple levels.
• Therapies that help reframe painful thoughts
These approaches gently help women understand how past experiences shape current worries, and support them in building healthier ways of thinking.
• Therapies that help the brain process overwhelming memories
These are guided, structured methods that allow the mind to revisit difficult experiences safely so they stop feeling as intense or intrusive.
• Body-based healing techniques
These focus on helping the body release stored tension through breathwork, movement, grounding exercises and other practices that calm the nervous system.
Together, these approaches help women understand their triggers, reduce self-blame and regain a sense of control over their emotional life.
Every woman who heals, heals forward
Intergenerational trauma is powerful, but it is not unchangeable. Every time a woman challenges an inherited belief, speaks honestly about her experiences, seeks support or learns healthier emotional skills, she shifts the pathways through which these patterns might travel.
When one woman changes her relationship with pain, she reshapes the emotional future of those who follow. Healing becomes a generational gift—one that grows quietly but profoundly.
Intergenerational trauma may be an invisible inheritance, but healing can be a conscious, collective choice. This article forms part of the broader conversation being taken forward at the Mpowering Minds Women’s Mental Health Summit 2026, where the keynote address in Bengaluru on February 27 will explore “Intergenerational Trauma: The Invisible Inheritance” with the depth and urgency it deserves.
Ankita Gayen is a Psychologist, Mpower, an initiative of Aditya Birla Education Trust.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.
