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How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are

and How to End the Cycle

How do the experiences of our ancestors influence our thoughts and behaviors today? Research supports what many have long intuited—that traumatic experiences can be passed down through generations.

In his award-winning book, It Didn’t Start with You, bestselling author Mark Wolynn shares compelling evidence that the roots of our anxiety, phobias, and chronic pain may not reside in our immediate life experience or in chemical imbalances in our brains—but in the lives of our parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. And now, The Official It Didn’t Start with You Workbook is available with practical exercises to take your understanding even further.

The latest scientific research supports what many have long intuited—that traumatic experiences can be passed down through generations. Even if the person who suffered the original trauma has died, or the story has been forgotten or silenced, memory and feelings can live on. These emotional legacies are often hidden, encoded in everything from gene expression to everyday language, and they play a far greater role in our emotional and physical health than has ever before been understood.

As a pioneer in the field of inherited family trauma, Mark Wolynn has worked with individuals and groups on a therapeutic level for over twenty years. It Didn’t Start with You is a transformative approach to resolving longstanding difficulties that in many cases, traditional therapy, drugs, or other interventions have not had the capacity to touch.

Register today to join our virtual conversation and learn more about how inherited family trauma impacts your health–and how to break the cycle. 

About the Author:

Mark Wolynn (accent on “l‎‎ynn”) is a leading expert in the field of inherited family trauma. He’s the director of The Family Constellation Institute in the US and is renowned for his work that bridges epigenetics, neuroscience, and somatic healing, and shows how the traumas of our parents, grandparents, and even great grandparents, can live in our bodies as unexplained depression, anxiety, obsessive thoughts, and chronic health conditions. His book It Didn’t Start with You is an international bestseller, which has sold more than three million copies worldwide. It won the Silver Nautilus Book Award for Psychology and has been translated into 40 languages. Mark has just released the 2025 revised edition of It Didn’t Start with You and The Official It Didn’t Start with You Workbook.

This program is sponsored by the Alexandria Library Foundation.

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