Genetics Resilience After Trauma Summary

Behavioral Epigenetics: Resilience After Trauma Epigenetics is the complex yet utterly fascinating study of the modification of gene expression and the peculiar ways organisms can be altered due to these changes. Dan Hurley, writer for Discover Magazine, introduces Michael Meaney and Moshe Syzf, “two young scientists following in Freud’s and Darwin’s footsteps” who, in 1992, had “begun to forge a revolutionary new synthesis” of how various life experiences may actually impact genes and behavior in general. Scientists had already witnessed epigenetic changes resulting from “diet and chemicals,” but Meaney and Syzf turned the tables and raised a “hypothesis as improbable as it was profound”— could certain life experiences, such as child abuse and genocide, alter genes as well? This one seemingly simple question rattled the entire foundation of epigenetics and cultivated a brand new field known as behavioral epigenetics, so dynamic it has “spawned dozens of studies” and provided insight for future brain treatments. Trauma is an event that “induces intense fear, helplessness, or horror,” and possesses a dominant role in behavioral epigenetics. Deborah D. Gray, clinical social worker and founder of Nurturing Attachments, boldly declares
The Holocaust massacred mothers, fathers, and children, leaving behind a bloody trail of “agonizing emotional wounds.” Domestic abuse by a loved one shredded the souls of women bit by bit until the only comfort was a “‘nice huge fat sack of meth.’” Trauma takes form in many different ways, but resilience will always appear the same. Resilience is “transcend[ing]” misery and “find[ing] meaning in everyday life” no matter how gruesome the past may be. Resilience is “mov[ing] forward” and taking charge of the “reconstruction of life.” So although trauma may rob an individual’s identity, a resilient one can replace