The Intimate Emotional Legacy Between Mothers And Daughters

The legacy between mothers and daughters goes far beyond the bond of an education. An affection and the same context in which to grow and relate.

There is a curious fact to take into account that a study published in the journal ScienceDaily has revealed to us: the brain structure that governs our emotions could be transmitted from mothers to daughters.

With this, neurologists, psychiatrists and psychologists have a basis on which to understand a little better the predisposition to develop a certain type of character or, even, having a greater or lesser risk of suffering, for example, depression.

This work carried out at the University of California. However, this does not mean at all that if our mother was or is prone to anxiety attacks, we are going to experience them as well. There is a risk, a probability.

It is also interesting to know that this ability of many women to cope with adversity. To draw unsuspected strengths in complex situations, it is something that is also transmitted in that female bond. It is something wonderful and exceptional.

The invisible bond between mothers and daughters

Today, we know that there are many diseases that “have gender.” Migraine, fibromyalgia or depression affect women in greater numbers than men.

It is as if the woman’s brain structure, with its neural network or that central nervous system capable of amplifying pain in the case of fibromyalgia, is linked to female genetics. To this day, science has not yet been able to give an explanation as to why this is so.

However, and when it comes to the world of emotions, it seems that we already have some answers to that question. On why, sometimes, mothers and daughters share that sometimes positive and sometimes somewhat more complex “emotional union”.

The limbic system

Let’s first talk about a brain structure as important as it is powerful: the limbic system. We could describe him as the craftsman of emotions.

• The limbic system is in charge of regulating and processing our entire emotional world. Furthermore, this is also where our emotional memory is located, and where our personality patterns develop.
• The limbic system is in turn made up of other structures, such as the hippocampus or the amygdala, also responsible for emotions such as fear or our ability to integrate memories.
• The director of this study is psychiatrist Fumiko Hoeft, a specialist in childhood and adolescence. Its main purpose was to find out if there were similarities in various brain regions between relatives (mother and daughter, father and son …).
• He discovered his results through various non-invasive MRI tests. Thus, he discovered that mothers and daughters share the same form and neurochemical activity in the limbic system. An area that, as we already know, is closely linked to the emotional world.

There is a “predisposition” to suffer the same emotional problems

We repeat once more that a predisposition is not a direct cause: it is a risk, a probability. Now, if this data has turned out to be so important for the medical field, it is for the following reasons:

• Any emotional problem, such as stress or depression, is based on the same neurochemical activity where there are fluctuations between dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine …
• If mothers and daughters share this same brain activity, with similar deficits and fluctuations in the limbic system, it means that, possibly, in the face of the same stimuli, situations or problems, the reaction mechanisms will be similar.

With these data we could, without a doubt, prevent certain types of psychological illnesses based on this genetic component.

Daughters are not copies of mothers

Given this information, it is possible that many people think that, in a way, daughters are copies of mothers. At least, when it comes to the emotional dimension.

It is not true. To understand it, let’s think, for example, about several aspects. If our mothers suffer from hypertension, diabetes, deep vein thrombosis, thyroid or obesity, it does not mean that we have a 100% probability of developing these same problems.

• We have to see this information for what it is: a piece of information to take into account in order to prevent certain things.
• A daughter will never be a copy of the mother. Our personal situation is different, our education, personality, attitude and values ​​can be very different.

• Sometimes, when a girl has grown up seeing her mother isolated in the room, facing her darkness, her loneliness and emotional complexities, she becomes aware of a reality that, tomorrow, she will want to avoid.
• Your personal approach will be different. Despite this predisposition, the experience lived at home will offer adequate strategies to be resilient. Also to be stronger and avoid the same depressive disorder.

As a final point, it should also be noted that in the present study it was discovered that, while maternal inheritance was linked to the emotional world, the genetic load of the father can predispose children to dyslexia or autism.