Seed Talks– The Science of Intergenerational Trauma and Psychosomatic Nature of Trauma

CARDIFF – MAY 2024 – How Trauma Affects the Body: The Psychosomatic Nature of Trauma

Trauma and its related symptoms are not all ‘just in your head’! Recent studies indicate that the effects of trauma on the body are often overlooked. Undergoing traumatic stress greatly impacts the body: trauma not only significantly affects most psychological processes, but also your overall health, leading to the development of disease and even altering your lifespan. Join neuroscientist Dr Megan Klabunde in this illuminating talk and examine the latest research on trauma and the body. We will delve into the physiological and neuro-anatomy underlying stress and trauma, ranging from the vagus nerve to the prefrontal cortex of the brain. Explore the science behind the development of new and effective treatments, and uncover how your body may be a key factor in reducing the effects of stress and trauma.

Dr Megan Klabunde is a leading expert in the neuroscience underlying the effects of trauma and PTSD during childhood and adolescence. As an academic at the University of Essex, she is the Principal Investigator for various clinical neuroimaging studies. Currently, she is running naturalistic multidisciplinary neuroimaging, clinical psychology and physiological studies in local schools using novel brain imaging tools such as portable functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Previously she worked within the Early Life Stress and Paediatric Anxiety Program, Eating Disorders Clinics and developed the Executive Functioning Program as a Clinical Assistant Professor and Attending (Consultant) Psychologist with the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford University Medical School and is an expert in treating children, young people and adults who have experienced trauma.

GLASGOW – MAY 2024 – The Science of Intergenerational Trauma

Experiences shape you, even ones that aren’t your own: they can also be inherited from your family. It is possible that your experiences of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and many other psychological conditions can be traced back to a traumatic event on your family tree. Join us in uncovering how a distant familial trauma can imprint on you today in this enlightening talk with Prof. Oonagh Walsh. Explore the role of epigenetics and the mechanisms through which trauma is passed down through generations. Obtain valuable insights into your family history, and begin to understand the profound ways that your family’s past is moulding your current psychological landscape. Take the first steps in healing intergenerational trauma through compassionate self-understanding, and gain practical tips in navigating the complexities of your past.

Oonagh Walsh is Professor of Gender Studies at the Glasgow School for Business and Society. She was educated at Trinity College, Dublin (B.A. History & English and PhD in modern Irish history) and Nottingham University (M.A. American Studies). She taught at LSU College, Southampton, Aberdeen University and University College Cork before her appointment as Professor of Gender Studies at GCU in 2012. Her principal research interests lie in gender and medical histories, and in the nineteenth century history of Irish psychiatry in particular. She has published on a range of areas in modern Irish history, including Protestant women’s social, political and cultural experiences, the development of the asylum system in the west of Ireland, and twentieth century obstetrics. She is author of a report on symphysiotomy for the Department of Health (Ireland), and a monograph on the Irish asylum system in the nineteenth-century west of Ireland. She is also undertaking a study of possible epigenetic change as a result of the Great Famine.