If you're experiencing unexplained fears, anxiety and depression, those emotions may be residue of trauma in your family history.
It's important to know the significant events that have happened in your family history so that you can understand what makes you who you are.
Mark Wolynn, Director of The Family Constellation Institute and author of IT DIDN’T START WITH YOU: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle, works with individuals to "shake the family tree" and see what falls out.
What's been hidden? What stories didn't get told? What traumas were never healed? If you ignore the past, it can literally come back to haunt you.
Wolynn says you need to work through the traumas in your family and pull engagement away from the trauma cycle. Create a new experience, so that you're not perpetuating that cycle.
One example Wolynn gives is that of a young woman who was a severe cutter. She would cut herself so deep that she would almost bleed out. When asked why, she responded, "I deserve to die."
After digging deeper into her family history, Wolynn learnd that her grandmother was an alcoholic. One night, she was driving and caused an accident where the young woman's grandfather was sent through the windshield, cut with glass, and bled out. From that point on, her grandmother thought she deserved to die because she'd killed her true love.
Listen in as Wolynn joins Dr. Susanne to share more about what inherited family trauma is and how you can start to heal from events in your past.
Health Impacts of Your Genetic Past
If you're experiencing unexplained fears, anxiety and depression, those emotions may be residue of trauma in your family history.
Additional Info
- Segment Number: 5
- Audio File: wellness_for_life/1628wl5b.mp3
- Featured Speaker: Mark Wolynn, Director of The Family Constellation Institute
- Book Title: IT DIDN’T START WITH YOU: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle
- Guest Website: Mark Wolynn: Family Constellation Institute
- Guest Twitter Account: @MarkWolynn
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Guest Bio:
Mark Wolynn is a leading expert in the field of inherited family trauma.
As the director of The Family Constellation Institute in San Francisco, he trains clinicians and helps people struggling with depression, anxiety, panic disorder, obsessive thoughts, self-injury, chronic pain and illness.
A sought-after lecturer, he leads workshops at hospitals, clinics, conferences, and teaching centers around the world. He has taught at the University of Pittsburgh, the Western Psychiatric Institute, Kripalu, The Omega Institute, The New York Open Center, and The California Institute of Integral Studies.
His book, IT DIDN'T START WITH YOU: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle, has just been published by Viking/Penguin in April 2016. His articles have appeared in Psychology Today, Mind Body Green, Elephant Journal and Psych Central, and his poetry has been published in The New Yorker. - Length (mins): 10
- Waiver Received: No
- Host: Susanne Bennett, DC
Published in
Wellness for Life
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