Top 10 Books About Generational Trauma

1. It Didn’t Start with You

By Mark Wolynn

The latest scientific research, now making headlines, supports what many have long intuited—that traumatic experience can be passed down through generations. 

It Didn’t Start with You builds on the work of leading experts in post-traumatic stress, including Mount Sinai School of Medicine neuroscientist Rachel Yehuda and psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score. Even if the person who suffered the original trauma has died, or the story has been forgotten or silenced, memory and feelings can live on.

2. Heal Your Ancestors, Heal Yourself

By Allie Duzett

This is a practical book. It starts by walking through some of the recent science and studies published on the epigenetic transfer of trauma, and from there it discusses the nitty-gritty of HOW to actually do generational healing work.

Ancestral healing work is something you can do on your own, and on your own time–but this is also a book of sessions. As you follow the instructions in the book, and work through the sessions as written, you will see for yourself how your own emotional state shifts.

3. Breaking the Chains of Transgenerational Trauma

By Dorothy Husen

Dorothy Husen, a licensed therapist and captivating storyteller, shares how her family’s trauma passed down from parent to child and how she through mind/body psychotherapy broke the cycle and healed her family’s transgenerational trauma.

4. When Ancestors Weep

By James A Houck Jr PH D

This book follows a basic premise in that throughout history, traumatic events have wounded and immobilized people. not just in life-threatening or physical ways, but also in psychological, emotional, and indeed, our understanding of who we are as souls.

5. The Burden of Heritage

By Aileen Alleyne

The Burden of Heritage: Hauntings of Generational Trauma on Black Lives is a timely addition to the literature on inter- and transgenerational trauma. The book addresses black ancestral trauma passed down the generations, highlighting the ongoing impact on black lives.

6. Generations Deep

By Gina Birkemeier LPC

Gina shares the story of inherited trauma and dysfunction that echoed through four generations of her family, demonstrating this profound truth: what isn’t repaired gets repeated. Often in ways we never could have imagined.

7. Translating Your Past

By Michelle Van Loon

In Translating Your Past, author Michelle Van Loon helps readers uncover how patterns and gaps in family histories, generational trauma, adoption, genetic clues and surprises, spiritual history, and the church help us translate our own pasts and understand why these stories matter.

8. The Remodel

By Lex A’llure

The book includes poetry, story-telling, and questions that will spark curiosity in its reader about their own journey. You will laugh, you will cry, and most importantly you will realize that no matter where you begin, who you decide to become is all up to you.

9. Racial Trauma

By Kenneth V. Hardy

This groundbreaking book provides a comprehensive overview of the anatomy of racial trauma and the debilitating hidden wounds associated with it. Racially sensitive trauma-informed interventions and strategies that centralize race and racial oppression in every facet of the therapeutic process and relationship are meticulously highlighted, making this a must-read resource for all practicing and aspiring clinicians.

10. Intergenerational Trauma Workbook

By Lynne Friedman-Gell PhD, Joanne Barron PsyD

Drawing on their combined decades of experience treating trauma, Dr. Lynne Friedman-Gell and Dr. Joanne Barron have created an accessible and compassionate workbook that teaches you how to recognize and identify the effects that intergenerational trauma is having on your life.

You’ll discover a variety of easy-to-use, evidence-based strategies that will not only help you heal but also help break the cycle of your family’s trauma.