⌗ Comparative Framework Chart
Framework 7 – “Rebuilding Generational Bridges” × Core Theories of Inter-Generational Trauma, Family Systems & Cross-Cultural Development
Paretas Bridge-Step | Core Healing Move | Family-Systems / Attachment Anchor | Inter-Generational-Trauma Evidence | Cross-Cultural / Relational-Ethics Lens | Key Thinkers / Models |
7.1 What We Inherited / Needed | Name the emotional legacy; separate need from role. | Bowen’s multigenerational transmission & “differentiation of self.” | Verbal & physical aggression operate as carriers of maternal trauma to child emotional problems. | Danieli’s cultural-memory lens; ACE-framework shows universal & culture-specific patterns. | Bowen • Runyan (LONGSCAN) • Danieli |
7.2 Understanding ≠ Excusing | Hold compassion without erasing impact. | Boszormenyi-Nagy’s Contextual Therapy: balance of “relational ledger” & destructive entitlement. | “Harsh parenting” mediates trauma → child internalising / externalising symptoms. | Sharma’s Cultural Framework of Generational Trauma (CFGT): empathy + accountability across cultures. | Nagy • Sharma • Fitzgerald |
7.3 Shame Around Aging & Innocence | Re-value youth & elders; fight worth = productivity myth. | Structural Family Therapy: hierarchy flexibility; Minuchin’s “disengaged/rigid” generations. | Scoping review notes stigma magnifies trauma in both children & elders across societies. | Indigenous “Elder-in-Council” models: wisdom as communal resource (e.g., Māori kaumātua). | Minuchin • Chou & Buchanan |
7.4 Elders Are Not the Enemy | Differentiate toxic vs. true elderhood; invite generative roles. | Erikson’s “Generativity vs Stagnation” → healthy elders mentor, not dominate. | Contextual Therapy: fair care restores “relational ethics” across generations. | BRIDGE-Project (EU): structured mutual knowledge transfer juniors↔seniors. | Erikson • Knudson-Martin |
7.5 Respect ≠ Submission | Redefine respect as bilateral safety & truth. | Attachment re-negotiation: move from fearful-avoidant to secure-earned contracts in adulthood. | Trauma studies show relational fairness buffers chronic stress responses. | Ubuntu (Sub-Saharan): “I am because we are” – dignity is mutual, not hierarchical. | Bowlby • Porges |
7.6 Kids Don’t Owe Contact | Assert consent & nervous-system safety before filial duty. | Boundary-setting = differentiation; Bowen’s “emotional cutoff.” | Research on estrangement shows safety needs override genetic ties in trauma families. | Western vs. collectivist tension: CFGT stresses cultural nuance in deciding contact. | Bowen • Brown & Shifren |
7.7 Chosen Family | Build voluntary, values-based bonds. | Satir’s family-reconstruction: create functional “parts-party” outside origin clan. | Resilience literature: non-kin “protective adults” disrupt trauma transmission. | LGBTQ+ “families of choice” as cross-cultural template for post-trauma belonging. | Satir • Riaz & Curley |
7.8 Legacy = Story We Leave | Craft new narrative of care, not pain. | Narrative Therapy: externalise inherited scripts, author preferred future. | Longitudinal trauma work shows meaning-making interrupts epigenetic stress markers. | Cross-generational storytelling (e.g., Día de Muertos in Coco) heals communal memory. | White & Epston • Siegel |
Why These Theories Validate the Framework
- Family-systems research confirms that unprocessed caregiver trauma shapes “roles we didn’t choose,” exactly the inheritance Paretas names.
- Contextual Therapy adds the ethical ledger—understanding without excusing—which the framework places at the bridge’s center.
- Cross-cultural reviews show that the same harm→transmission→repair cycle appears in Holocaust, Indigenous, and domestic-violence contexts, supporting the framework’s global applicability.
- Developmental-stage theory (Erikson) and attachment science explain why redefining elderhood, respect, and contact is pivotal for adult children seeking secure autonomy.
5
Pushing the Bridge Further
- Measure progress with the Inter-Generational Family Relations Scale + Adult Attachment Interview pre/post. • Pair “chosen-family” sessions with BRIDGE-style inter-age mentorship circles to practice new elder/younger roles. • Use Polyvagal mapping: dorsal/shut-down (legacy shame) → sympathetic (boundary setting) → ventral (co-created legacy).
These integrations ground Paretas’ narrative-rich framework in decades of empirical family and trauma science—turning poetic common sense into evidence-aligned practice.
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