It Didn't Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle

the DNA responsible for transmitting physical traits, such as the color of our hair, eyes, and skin—surprisingly makes up less than 2 percent of our total DNA.14 The other 98 percent consists of what is called noncoding DNA (ncDNA), and is responsible for many of the emotional, behavioral, and personality traits we inherit.

The researchers also found that the germ cells—the precursor egg and sperm cells

Traumas, not only from war but from any event significant enough to disrupt the emotional equilibrium in our family—a crime, a suicide, an early death, a sudden or unexpected loss—can lead to our reliving trauma symptoms from the past.