"How could something that happened so long ago affect me today?" I asked my therapist right after she told me I was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). How could an assault at six years old be the defining factor in my adult existence?

And with those questions, my life's trajectory changed. I began to search for answers.

This is the story of that journey. A journey that took me deep into past traumas to face memories I'd tried to bury my whole life. A journey that revealed how my trauma was not mine alone, but was connected to my parents' and grandparents' traumas. A journey that showed me how this transgenerational trauma had controlled my thoughts, my choices, and my life. And how it now infected my children's lives as well.

This is a story of how I finally broke the cycle of transgenerational trauma and found healing - not only for me, but for my children.

Dorothy Husen is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Dorothy lived most of her adult life with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder due to childhood trauma. The hidden chronic stress from her childhood developed into physical chronic illnesses decades later. It was then, at age 48, and in therapy for the first time, that she discovered the truth of what had been holding her back in life. Her own healing journey led her to become a trauma specialist. Today, she has her own private practice in which she helps her clients dissolve their pain and live life fully. www.dorothyhusen.com