It Didn’t Start With You - Family Trauma
What is it?
It Didn’t Start With You shows how the traumas of our parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents can live in our unexplained depression, anxiety, fears, phobias, obsessive thoughts and physical symptoms—what scientists are now calling “secondary PTSD.”
How did this help you or the person you’re supporting?
“As I’ve got older I’ve learned that my family members have experienced different traumatic events and only as an adult have I realised their behaviours were not always a result of something I had done. I also feel like the author finally labeled an experience I’ve had to navigate alone which is secondary trauma and PTSD. Growing up people dind’t talk about mental health in the way they do now, this book shined a light on the fact that the people around the people struggling are also victims. Finding this book helped to confirm this and it shared different methods and strategies that have helped me to see it from their perspective whilst also protecting myself. ”
