Local, national and even global surveys all show an increase in negative feelings and experiences over at least the last decade.
And stress and trauma can permanently change the developing brains of children, affecting lifelong health, educational, economic and social outcomes. There is even preliminary research from Washington State University biologists suggesting that stress can alter the biology of a person’s as-yet-unborn children and grandchildren, meaning susceptibility to anxiety and trauma could be passed to future generations.
“In animals, exposure to stress, cold or high-fat diets has been shown to trigger metabolic changes in later generations,” wrote Science, the official publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest scientific society, in an article last month. “And small studies in humans exposed to traumatic conditions — among them the children of Holocaust survivors — suggest subtle biological and health changes in their children.”
The article quotes Michael Skinner, a biologist at WSU, saying, “This is really scary stuff. If what your grandmother and grandfather were exposed to is going to change your disease risk, the things we’re doing today that we thought were erased are affecting our great-great-grandchildren.”
What to do?