LibraryScenariosWhen trauma memories don't match family history
Scenario

When trauma memories don't match family history

I keep having nightmares about being on a slave ship even though my ancestors were free blacks and I don't understand why this specific terror lives in my body.

Mira
Online
The coach is replying

More people experience this than they realize.

What we've seen

Collective racial trauma can manifest in individuals regardless of their specific ancestral experience.

Ideas that help explain it
Worth thinking about

“Where Are You with Historical grief — intergenerational mourning?”

If this sounds familiar, the Library can help you find the bigger picture.