Can You Inherit Trauma - And If So, Can You Inherit Healing?

Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness

Sony Music

Science, Education, Society & Culture

4.9 • 21.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

JVN sits down with journalist and author James Longman to explore one of the most fascinating questions in mental health: can you inherit trauma? Drawing from his deeply personal journey and his new book The Inherited Mind, James unpacks the science behind genetic predisposition, epigenetics, and the interplay between nature and nurture. Together, they explore how trauma shapes our brains, why mental illness remains so stigmatized, and whether healing can be passed down just as much as hardship. James shares his own family’s history, the groundbreaking research that’s reshaping our understanding of mental illness, and the hopeful innovations that might change how we address treatment in the future. James Longman has been a foreign correspondent for ABC news since 2017. Based in London, his work takes him all over the world -- to date, more than 45 countries and counting. He has covered some of the most important international events of our time. He was in Moscow when Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine and spent a month reporting from the Russian capital with the situation deteriorating by the day. He then spent more than 12 weeks in Ukraine and was one of the first reporters to see firsthand the horrors in Bucha. From the fight against the Islamic State group on the Syrian front line, confronting Chechen authorities about abuses against LGBTQ+ people, terror attacks across Europe and further abroad to tagging humpback whales in the Antarctic, Longman has one of the most varied briefs in American network news. His new book, The Inherited Mind, is out now! You can find James Longman on Instagram @jameslongman Follow us on Instagram @CuriousWithJVN to join the conversation. Jonathan is on Instagram @JVN. Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com. Find books from Getting Curious guests at bookshop.org/shop/curiouswithjvn. Our senior producer is Chris McClure. Our editor & engineer is Nathanael McClure. Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Currie, and Chad Hall. Our theme music is “Freak” by QUIÑ; for more, head to TheQuinCat.com. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email [email protected]. Go to nordvpn.com/jvn with our link, you’ll get an extra 4 months free on the 2-year plan and it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Can't get enough of Bachelor Nation. Enter Betches' hilarious Bachelor recap podcast, The Bachelor.
0:06.5	Each week hosts Kay Brown and me, Jared Freed, recap the latest episodes of The Bachelor
0:11.6	and make fun of all the ridiculous things the contestants say and do. Because honestly,
0:16.9	why else watch the show, if not for the fun commentary?
0:20.3	Listeners have called The Bachelor the much-needed humor and commiseration they want after watching
0:25.2	the show.
0:25.9	Listen to The Bachelor podcast now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast.
0:30.7	Life throws challenges at all of us, but how do we cope?
0:34.3	I'm John Robbins, and on my podcast, I sit down with incredible people to ask the very simple question. How do you cope? I'm John Robbins and on my podcast I sit down with incredible people to ask the very
0:38.9	simple question. How do you cope? We explore the moments that shape them and the ways they've
0:44.3	learned to move forward. Whether it's mental health, grief or overcoming fear, we talk about it all,
0:50.2	honestly and openly. So if you're looking for real conversations about resilience and finding
0:55.0	light in the dark, follow How Do You Cope? Brought to you by Audible, wherever you get your podcasts.
1:05.3	Hey, curious people. I'm Jonathan Van Ness, and welcome back to another episode of Getting
1:09.7	Curious. Today, we're diving into a question that affects so many of us, whether you realize it or not,
1:15.3	which is trauma.
1:17.0	Whether it's a personal loss, exposure to violence, generational trauma, trauma shapes how we think,
1:23.6	feel, function, and ways we might not even realize.
1:26.8	I've been wanting to explore trauma,
1:28.6	mental illness, and mental health for a long time, and we have before, but we're going in on
1:32.8	this episode in kind of a different way, which is how can we heal from trauma? What happens to us
1:39.0	when we experience trauma? And how can people who have someone that has severe mental illness
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 5 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Sony Music, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Sony Music and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.