Written by Wyles Daniel
In recent years, the concept of generational trauma has moved from the margins into mainstream awareness. From Oscar-winning films like Everything Everywhere All At Once to articles in major publications like The Washington Post, a growing number of people are waking up to a powerful truth: the emotional burdens we carry may not start—or end—with us.
TEDx speaker and Epigenetics for Global Impact founder Lisa Thomas has spent her career helping people explore this idea. Her groundbreaking work on emotional DNA—the patterns and beliefs passed through family lines—offers a life-changing perspective for high achievers and leaders who find themselves stuck in patterns that traditional self-help tools can’t explain.
As Thomas explains,
“When we can’t trace a belief or fear to a specific life event, that doesn’t mean it came from nowhere. Often, we’re carrying emotional imprints that were never ours to begin with.”
A Cultural Shift in How We View Trauma
Mainstream media is catching on. The Washington Post reported in 2023 that “researchers and therapists are increasingly recognizing how trauma can be transmitted across generations—not just through behavior and environment, but also biologically.”¹ These insights are resonating deeply with a new generation, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, who are asking difficult questions about inherited wounds and how to break free.
Films like Encanto and Turning Red have helped normalize these conversations, offering metaphors for healing intergenerational dynamics. At the same time, online communities and mental health platforms are flooded with content exploring cycles of codependency, scarcity mindsets, and perfectionism passed down from parents and grandparents.
Scientific Research Backs It Up
The cultural conversation is being increasingly validated by science.
The idea that trauma can be inherited through generations is no longer a fringe theory; it’s an area of active research.
In one striking example, Yale School of Medicine released findings in early 2025 from a study of Syrian refugee families. Researchers discovered that children born to parents exposed to war trauma—especially mothers—showed measurable biological changes in the systems that regulate stress and aging, even if those children were raised in safe environments.² In other words, trauma didn’t just live in memory. It left a molecular imprint that could shape how the next generation responds to fear, safety, and uncertainty.
This echoes earlier foundational work by Dr. Frances Champagne, a professor at Columbia University whose animal studies revealed how disrupted mother-infant bonding leads to long-lasting changes in gene expression—particularly in the genes that govern stress hormones like cortisol.³ Her research showed that when maternal care was compromised, offspring became more anxious and reactive. These effects persisted into the next generation, not through genetic mutation, but through epigenetic modifications like DNA methylation.
Meanwhile, researchers from Yale’s Department of Molecular Psychiatry published another 2025 study showing that childhood maltreatment is associated with epigenetic alterations to microRNAs—small molecules that regulate gene expression and are known to influence emotional processing.⁴
The implication is significant: we may not only carry the imprint of our own emotional experiences in our biology, but also inherit patterns shaped by previous generations—and unknowingly pass them on to those who come after us.
According to Lisa Thomas, these findings help explain why so many people struggle with chronic anxiety, control issues, or perfectionism despite years of inner work.
Lisa Thomas’s Work: Epigenetics For Global Impact
Lisa’s work brings this science to an opportunity for healing, offering her clients a way to identify what patterns might be inherited and, perhaps for the first time, choose a different path forward.
Rather than only addressing surface-level symptoms like burnout, chronic stress, or fear of success, her Soul Awakening Method™ invites clients to look at their lives through the lens of emotional inheritance. Thomas has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs, executives, and creatives uncover generational patterns that were holding them back.
What makes her approach unique is that it doesn’t stop at awareness. Her work is focused on clearing these patterns at the root, allowing clients to make empowered decisions from a place of emotional freedom, not inherited programming.
Lisa also trains other practitioners in her methodology through her Soul Awakening Method™ Certification Program, expanding the ripple effect of healing. “When one person shifts a generational pattern, it doesn’t just change their life,” she explains. “It creates space for new legacies, for families, for communities, and for what’s possible in the world.”
Bridging the Gap Between Science and Healing
As scientific research continues to uncover how trauma can pass from one generation to the next, Lisa Thomas’s work is creating a bridge to help individuals understand that true healing doesn’t happen from pushing harder, achieving more, or fixing what’s “wrong.” It requires a compassionate understanding of what was never yours to carry, and a conscious choice to break the cycle.
In a time where anxiety is often normalized and even celebrated in high-performance culture, Thomas offers an alternative: clarity, empowerment, and the freedom to rewrite the story—not just for ourselves, but for generations to come.
Sources
1. Washington Post. “How trauma gets passed down through generations.” Published March 2023. www.washingtonpost.com
2. Yale News. “Violent experiences alter genome in ways that persist for generations.” Published March 6, 2025. news.yale.edu
3. Champagne, F. A. (2010). “Epigenetic influence of social experiences across the lifespan.” Developmental Psychobiology, 52(4), 299–311. doi.org
4. Kilaru, V. et al. (2025). “Epigenetic signatures of childhood trauma in human microRNA.” Yale Department of Molecular Psychiatry. Study summary retrieved via Yale School of Medicine press release.
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