129
Lorna Goldberg |Intergenerational Transmission of Cult Trauma
empathic attunement and bond that the mode
of transmission can be found. (p. 37)
When Anika was pregnant with her daughter and David
was four, the family moved from the cult facility. Anika’s
focus then began to shift to her children. Although she
remained a cult member, with time away from the
cult facility, her dissociative state began to lessen as
she felt less “watched,” and so her daughter grew up
experiencing Anika as a more empathic parent.
Anika has a warm memory of the first time she had
the freedom to take her four-year-old son to the park,
where they could play. Her description of the pleasure
in spending time playing with her son is indicative of
the responsive mother that she could have been if not
for the cult. At that time, she recalls feeling relieved to
no longer be on constant alert about the cult leader’s
whereabouts and how she might gain the leader’s
benevolent attention or have her child gain that
attention.
Sroufe et al. (1997) conclude that early trauma has a more
significant impact on the development of dissociation.
They write, “The vulnerable self will be more likely to
adopt dissociation as a coping mechanism because it
does not have either the belief in worthiness gained
from a loving and responsive early relationship or the
normal level of defenses and integration that such a
belief affords” (in Ogawa et al., p. 875).
Intergenerational Trauma Resulting from
Dissociation in Child-Rearing
Anika learned that her grandmother had been distant
towards her mother in her mother’s upbringing. She
wonders if her mother was repeating this pattern with
her, and this was intensified in the cult. As a child, to
Anika, her mother did not appear to be conflicted about
separating from her to spend long periods working for
the cult and traveling to India.
Trauma can be passed down from generation to
generation, affecting unconscious behavior and beliefs
like a “ghost” (Fraiberg et al., 1975). In “Ghosts in
the Nursery,” Fraiberg, Adelson, and Shapiro (1975)
observe how the “ghosts” of parents’ unremembered,
conflicted histories can lead to repetitive enactments in
parenting children. According to Fraiberg et al. (1975),
the trauma of the first generation unconsciously
influences the behavior of the second generation.
Fraiberg et al. (1975) presented cases that included
multigenerational trauma histories with dysregulated
affect and problematic mother-infant attachments. In
Fraiberg’s paper, the authors describe how empathic
witnessing by the therapist allows these mothers to
gain access to early trauma and, as a result, become
more resilient (Fraiberg et al., 1975).
Children are attuned to their parents’ unconscious
lives, and trauma can affect their parents’ capacity to
provide the necessary “containment” to enable healthy
thinking and symbolizing in their infants. Cavalli
(2012) extends Fraiberg’s (1975) work by describing
how even the fetal environment may be impacted. She
states, “If the mother’s mind is already inhabited by
trauma during gestation, her incapacity to differentiate
will work as a shadow under which the fetus will be
developing” (2012, p. 609).
Rachel Yehuda (2016) discovered that the genes of
parents who were Holocaust survivors could be passed
to their children through epigenetic inheritance.
Her study indicates that the markers on ancestors’
genes affect how the present generation’s genes will
be expressed—that ancestors’ traumas influence the
expression of the present generation’s genes.
Porges’ (2009) polyvagal theory emphasizes the
neurophysiological foundations of attachment,
emotions, communication, and self-regulation. His
theory demonstrates the effect of safety and stress on
the nervous system by focusing on the impact on the
vagus nerve, which unconsciously and automatically
provides embodied, environmental, and relational
cues. Porges explains how an autonomic state is
optimized during safe social interactions and disrupted
during defensive states of stress. Porges considers that
if a threat is perceived in one’s environment (e.g.,
the fear and chronic stress of failing to live up to the
highest standards of perfection of the cult or the fear
of “bad karma” or being reported and verbally attacked
by others), the sympathetic nervous system prepares
for the threat, and body processes are disrupted. The
emphasis on avoiding trouble and bad karma shifts the
focus outward, away from healthy self-awareness. Calm
and a sense of safety are impossible while experiencing
this higher-level threat. This constant stressful state
Lorna Goldberg |Intergenerational Transmission of Cult Trauma
empathic attunement and bond that the mode
of transmission can be found. (p. 37)
When Anika was pregnant with her daughter and David
was four, the family moved from the cult facility. Anika’s
focus then began to shift to her children. Although she
remained a cult member, with time away from the
cult facility, her dissociative state began to lessen as
she felt less “watched,” and so her daughter grew up
experiencing Anika as a more empathic parent.
Anika has a warm memory of the first time she had
the freedom to take her four-year-old son to the park,
where they could play. Her description of the pleasure
in spending time playing with her son is indicative of
the responsive mother that she could have been if not
for the cult. At that time, she recalls feeling relieved to
no longer be on constant alert about the cult leader’s
whereabouts and how she might gain the leader’s
benevolent attention or have her child gain that
attention.
Sroufe et al. (1997) conclude that early trauma has a more
significant impact on the development of dissociation.
They write, “The vulnerable self will be more likely to
adopt dissociation as a coping mechanism because it
does not have either the belief in worthiness gained
from a loving and responsive early relationship or the
normal level of defenses and integration that such a
belief affords” (in Ogawa et al., p. 875).
Intergenerational Trauma Resulting from
Dissociation in Child-Rearing
Anika learned that her grandmother had been distant
towards her mother in her mother’s upbringing. She
wonders if her mother was repeating this pattern with
her, and this was intensified in the cult. As a child, to
Anika, her mother did not appear to be conflicted about
separating from her to spend long periods working for
the cult and traveling to India.
Trauma can be passed down from generation to
generation, affecting unconscious behavior and beliefs
like a “ghost” (Fraiberg et al., 1975). In “Ghosts in
the Nursery,” Fraiberg, Adelson, and Shapiro (1975)
observe how the “ghosts” of parents’ unremembered,
conflicted histories can lead to repetitive enactments in
parenting children. According to Fraiberg et al. (1975),
the trauma of the first generation unconsciously
influences the behavior of the second generation.
Fraiberg et al. (1975) presented cases that included
multigenerational trauma histories with dysregulated
affect and problematic mother-infant attachments. In
Fraiberg’s paper, the authors describe how empathic
witnessing by the therapist allows these mothers to
gain access to early trauma and, as a result, become
more resilient (Fraiberg et al., 1975).
Children are attuned to their parents’ unconscious
lives, and trauma can affect their parents’ capacity to
provide the necessary “containment” to enable healthy
thinking and symbolizing in their infants. Cavalli
(2012) extends Fraiberg’s (1975) work by describing
how even the fetal environment may be impacted. She
states, “If the mother’s mind is already inhabited by
trauma during gestation, her incapacity to differentiate
will work as a shadow under which the fetus will be
developing” (2012, p. 609).
Rachel Yehuda (2016) discovered that the genes of
parents who were Holocaust survivors could be passed
to their children through epigenetic inheritance.
Her study indicates that the markers on ancestors’
genes affect how the present generation’s genes will
be expressed—that ancestors’ traumas influence the
expression of the present generation’s genes.
Porges’ (2009) polyvagal theory emphasizes the
neurophysiological foundations of attachment,
emotions, communication, and self-regulation. His
theory demonstrates the effect of safety and stress on
the nervous system by focusing on the impact on the
vagus nerve, which unconsciously and automatically
provides embodied, environmental, and relational
cues. Porges explains how an autonomic state is
optimized during safe social interactions and disrupted
during defensive states of stress. Porges considers that
if a threat is perceived in one’s environment (e.g.,
the fear and chronic stress of failing to live up to the
highest standards of perfection of the cult or the fear
of “bad karma” or being reported and verbally attacked
by others), the sympathetic nervous system prepares
for the threat, and body processes are disrupted. The
emphasis on avoiding trouble and bad karma shifts the
focus outward, away from healthy self-awareness. Calm
and a sense of safety are impossible while experiencing
this higher-level threat. This constant stressful state
