» Study details how stress and trauma can change your DNA

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Severe trauma can leave “scars” on DNA that endures for generations, according to new research.

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The passing of traumatic experiences to descendants has been shown to significantly increase their likelihood of depression and other mental health issues.

The latest study confirms the intergenerational trauma phenomenon with an analysis of DNA from 48 Syrian families across three generations.

“The study documents the signatures of stress and trauma in the body, under the skin,” said Catherine Panter-Brick, a Yale University anthropologist, per the New York Post.

“Our findings present the first-ever evidence that violence can leave epigenetic marks on the genome, which has important implications for understanding evolution and how traumatic experiences can become embedded in the genome and persist for generations,” she added.

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Her team studied women who were pregnant during violent conflicts in Syria in the early 1980s or 2011.

The DNA of 10 families exposed to the ’80s violence and 22 families to the 2011 conflict was compared to the genetic material of 16 families who left Syria before 1980, avoiding decades of unrest.

Cheek swabs were collected from 131 people – 45 younger children, 36 older children, 47 mothers and two grandmothers.

“The participants took part in the research out of love for their children and concern for future generations,” said study co-author Dima Hamadmad, a Syrian researcher and the daughter of refugees. “But more than that, they wanted their stories of trauma to be heard and acknowledged.”

Researchers examined 850,000 sites of DNA methylation, where small chemical tags called methyl groups are added to DNA.

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The process can alter gene expression without changing the underlying DNA sequence.

Researchers identified 21 sites in the DNA of mothers and children who had directly experienced violence that showed signs of altered epigenetic markings.

Modifications in 14 genome areas were discovered in grandchildren of women who survived the ’80s attack.

Additionally, researchers reported that those exposed to violence while in their mothers’ wombs appeared to be aging faster at a cellular level. It’s not clear what effect, if any, these changes might have on their health.

The findings were published last month in the journal Scientific Reports.

Authors of the study are calling for more research into the lasting effects of violence.

“The idea that trauma and violence can have repercussions into future generations should help people be more empathetic, help policymakers pay more attention to the problem of violence,” co-senior study author Connie Mulligan said.

“It could even help explain some of the seemingly unbreakable intergenerational cycles of abuse and poverty and trauma that we see around the world, including in the U.S.,” she added.

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