Interrupting Intergenerational Trauma in Substance Use Disorders

In this course, Dr. Carolyn Coker Ross (MD, MPA, CEDS-C) cites grim statistics regarding trauma, adverse childhood experiences, and race-based stress as those relate to substance use disorders. She explains how intergenerational trauma is triggered and transmitted, partially through epigenetic changes, and covers the five requirements for an ongoing historical event (such as slavery) to induce historical trauma. Several video clips bring emotional depth to the presentation and exemplify post-traumatic slave syndrome. Dr. Ross, spurred on by events she shares from her own family, shows how we can interrupt intergenerational trauma.