Transgenerational Patterns, Neurodivergence, and Regression Therapy: A Clinical and Personal Perspective

Sonia Tapiador (Spain)

Introduction

This article is based on clinical observations developed within the frameworks of Regression Therapy and transgenerational approaches. The case presented here is a personal one—that of my youngest son—which I have chosen in order to discuss the therapeutic process openly and in detail without concerns related to confidentiality or permissions. However, the phenomenological patterns described throughout this article have also been observed repeatedly in my professional work with neurodivergent and highly sensitive children, some of which are discussed in my book Child Regression Therapy.

It is important to clarify that I am not my son’s therapist in the formal clinical sense. Rather, I have supported him at specific moments using therapeutic tools drawn from my professional training and personal experience.

The purpose of this article is not to present definitive scientific claims, but to explore how Regression Therapy, transgenerational perspectives, and embodied emotional work may offer meaningful insights into recurring emotional and physiological patterns observed in certain neurodivergent children and their families.

Personal and Professional Background

After completing my Psychology degree in 2002, I initially felt resistant to working with children. At the time, I remember saying: “I do not want to work with children because they are too complicated; they do not express themselves clearly.” Looking back, I now recognise that this statement reflected more my own fears and limitations than any genuine understanding of children.

Life gradually led me in another direction. I began working in an Early Childhood and Primary Education Centre, supporting neurodivergent children and their families. My first cases involved children with language difficulties, and through them I discovered something fundamental: communication extends far beyond words.

I learned that genuine understanding emerges through attentive observation, emotional attunement, empathy, and presence. Children communicate through behaviour, bodily expression, emotional tone, silence, and relational dynamics as much as through language itself.

This period profoundly transformed my understanding of therapeutic work. Children became my greatest teachers.

In 2007, I opened my own Child Psychology Centre, Educainfants, where I continued working intensively with neurodivergent and highly sensitive children and their families. Over time, I became increasingly specialised in this field.

A major turning point occurred in 2021 when I entered the world of Regression Therapy. This represented not only professional training, but also a deep personal process of emotional work and self-exploration.

Although I realised during my training that I had intuitively been applying certain regression-based principles in my work with children for years, formal specialisation provided me with more structured, precise, and clinically grounded tools.

Gradually, a new professional direction emerged: integrating Child Psychology with Regression Therapy.

Early Experiences with Regression Therapy

The first child with whom I formally applied Regression Therapy was my eldest daughter, Emma, who was eleven years old at the time. During one of my internship sessions, the therapeutic process unexpectedly moved through birth memories, early childhood experiences, symbolic imagery, a past-life narrative, and future-oriented symbolic material.

Whether interpreted literally, symbolically, or psychologically, the session had a profound impact on both of us.

It also highlighted several themes that would later become central in my work:

• the importance of gestation and birth experiences,
• the influence of family emotional dynamics,
• and the role of transgenerational patterns in emotional development.

However, the focus of this article is not Emma’s case, but that of my youngest son, Daniel.

Daniel’s Background

Daniel, now nine years old, was born following two miscarriages and a long process involving in vitro fertilisation. He was deeply desired and arrived during a particularly emotionally intense period for our family.

The pregnancy was complicated, and although he was ultimately born at term, the birth itself was difficult due to the umbilical cord being wrapped around his neck.

From early childhood, Daniel displayed characteristics commonly associated with neurodivergence and heightened sensory sensitivity. As both a psychologist and a specialist in neurodivergence, I recognised early signs of:

• emotional hypersensitivity,
• sensory reactivity,
• non-linear cognitive processing,
• heightened anxiety responses,
• and difficulties with nervous-system regulation.

At the same time, Daniel entered our lives during a period marked by unresolved grief, family instability, and emotional exhaustion.

Looking back, I increasingly came to understand his arrival not as accidental, but as deeply transformative for our family system. His presence confronted us with unresolved emotional patterns that had existed across generations.

Transgenerational Family Patterns

Our family history contains multiple experiences involving:

• miscarriages,
• infant deaths,
• traumatic births,
• widowhood,
• fertility difficulties,
• chronic illness,
• emotional loss,
• and unresolved grief.

Across several generations, recurring themes included:

• loss of male figures,
• complicated motherhood experiences,
• reproductive trauma,
• emotional instability,
• and highly sensitive or neurodivergent descendants.

Through both personal regression work and clinical observation, I gradually began conceptualising these recurring patterns through what I came to call “memories of suffocation.”

This concept refers symbolically and phenomenologically to inherited emotional patterns associated with grief, fear, emotional overwhelm, helplessness, and survival.

From a transgenerational perspective, such experiences may become deeply embedded within family systems and influence later emotional regulation, bodily responses, attachment dynamics, and nervous-system sensitivity.

Importantly, I do not present these ideas as established biological facts, but as clinical and symbolic frameworks that have emerged repeatedly in therapeutic work.

Memories of Suffocation

The concept of “memories of suffocation” emerged from repeated observations involving:

• traumatic gestation experiences,
• difficult births,
• respiratory problems,
• emotional inhibition,
• chronic hypervigilance,
• and recurring patterns of anxiety and overwhelm.

In clinical practice, these patterns often appear interconnected.

On a physical level, descendants may present with:

• respiratory sensitivity,
• allergies,
• vagal dysregulation,
• digestive disturbances,
• or chronic nervous-system activation.

Emotionally, individuals frequently report:

• feelings of emotional suffocation,
• hypersensitivity,
• emotional overload,
• and difficulty expressing internal experience.

Mentally, these patterns may manifest through:

• obsessive thinking,
• anxiety loops,
• hypervigilance,
• catastrophising,
• and difficulties with self-regulation.

From a symbolic and energetic perspective, these experiences may also reflect unresolved emotional material transmitted across generations.

Although some of these ideas extend beyond mainstream scientific models, contemporary research on trauma, attachment, epigenetics, and intergenerational stress transmission increasingly supports the notion that unresolved trauma can influence descendants psychologically, emotionally, and physiologically.

Neurodivergence and Hypervigilance

Research on trauma and epigenetics, including the work of Rachel Yehuda and others, suggests that descendants of traumatised lineages may inherit heightened stress sensitivity and altered nervous-system regulation.

From this perspective, neurodivergent individuals may experience:

• heightened sensory processing,
• increased emotional reactivity,
• non-linear or highly associative cognition,
• and persistent states of hyperalertness.

In my clinical experience, highly sensitive children often struggle not because sensitivity itself is pathological, but because they lack sufficient tools for regulating overwhelming internal and external stimuli.

Sensitivity, in itself, may be understood as a capacity rather than a deficit.

The suffering emerges when nervous-system overload, emotional dysregulation, anxiety, and environmental overstimulation remain unresolved.

Daniel’s Early Symptoms

Daniel displayed many of the patterns commonly associated with heightened sensory sensitivity and neurodivergence.

These included:

• obsessive mental loops,
• sensory rigidity,
• respiratory difficulties,
• recurrent infections,
• allergies,
• digestive problems,
• and emotional hypersensitivity.

One of the earliest issues we addressed involved sensory rigidity related to clothing and footwear.

At the time, Daniel was four years old.

During a surrogate regression process conducted with my teacher, symbolic imagery emerged involving a drowning experience. Whether interpreted psychologically, symbolically, or spiritually, the session appeared deeply meaningful in relation to Daniel’s persistent fear of water.

From infancy, bath time had consistently triggered panic responses whenever water touched his face.

Several months after the session, Daniel spontaneously described a recurring dream involving drowning imagery that closely resembled the material that had emerged during therapy.

Gradually, his fear of water significantly diminished. He began entering the sea and swimming pool calmly and eventually learned to swim independently.

Importantly, his sensitivity did not disappear. Rather, his capacity for self-regulation appeared to improve.

Environmental Change and Symptom Escalation

In 2025, our family relocated to a coastal city.

For highly sensitive individuals, environmental context can play a significant role in nervous-system regulation. In Daniel’s case, living near nature and the sea appeared beneficial for his respiratory symptoms and overall well-being.

However, the transition also triggered considerable emotional stress.

Like many neurodivergent children, Daniel experienced change as deeply destabilising. He struggled with:

• separation from familiar environments,
• disruption of routine,
• fear of uncertainty,
• and heightened anticipatory anxiety.

Shortly after beginning at his new school, Daniel developed increasingly severe digestive symptoms, including:

• stomach pain,
• nausea,
• vomiting,
• and school avoidance.

The symptoms intensified during moments of social tension, overstimulation, or perceived emotional threat.

Although external support and self-regulation tools provided temporary relief, the symptoms repeatedly returned.

Regression Sessions and Symbolic Processing

At the age of nine, Daniel participated in a regression-based therapeutic session aimed at exploring the deeper emotional origins of his symptoms.

Using symbolic imagery associated with colours and bodily sensations, Daniel connected emotionally with experiences involving fear, invasion, overwhelm, and vulnerability.

He described perceiving certain school interactions as invasive and physically threatening, particularly experiences involving pushing or sudden bodily impact.

Strong physiological reactions emerged during the session, including:

• trembling,
• increased heart rate,
• sweating,
• rigidity,
• and digestive discomfort.

Emotionally, the dominant themes involved fear, helplessness, and anticipation of danger.

As the therapeutic process unfolded, Daniel also connected these experiences symbolically with his birth experience involving the umbilical cord around his neck.

He described sensations of pressure, restriction, fear, and being “pushed.”

Within the regression framework, these experiences appeared interconnected through recurring emotional themes of suffocation, danger, and loss of control.

We then carried out a symbolic rebirth process involving:

• removal of the umbilical cord imagery,
• energetic reconnection with both parents,
• retrieval of symbolic “lost energy,”
• and a symbolic cutting of the cord.

Following the session, Daniel’s symptoms decreased substantially over the following week.

The School Trip and Final Session

Several weeks later, Daniel faced another major challenge: his first overnight school trip.

Although excited, the anticipation triggered intense anxiety and digestive symptoms.

During a final regression-oriented session, Daniel personified his stomach and explored the fear underlying his physical reactions.

The session revealed recurring associations between:

• bodily discomfort,
• fear of losing control,
• fear of death,
• and catastrophic anticipation.

Further symbolic material emerged involving transport accidents, sudden movement, and sensations of physical impact.

One particularly important insight involved the repeated thought:

“I hope everything will be okay.”

This appeared connected to a deeper belief that fear itself was dangerous and unmanageable.

The therapeutic work therefore focused not on eliminating fear, but on helping Daniel develop a safer and more regulated relationship with it.

The session concluded with:

• reassurance of safety,
• symbolic repair of earlier emotional experiences,
• nervous-system regulation,
• and the development of a new internal narrative.

Daniel also created a simple mantra:

“The most likely outcome is that things will go well.”

Two days later, he successfully attended the school trip, learned to ski, and returned emotionally regulated and happy.

Clinical Reflections

This case illustrates several important clinical observations.

First, highly sensitive and neurodivergent children often appear especially vulnerable to unresolved emotional stress, environmental overload, and family-system dynamics.

Second, regression-oriented approaches may provide symbolic and experiential access to emotional material that is not always easily accessible through cognitive processing alone.

Third, the integration of bodily awareness, emotional expression, symbolic imagery, and nervous-system regulation may help certain children improve their capacity for self-regulation.

Importantly, the goal of this work is not to “cure” neurodivergence. Neurodivergence itself is not viewed here as pathology, but as a distinct mode of processing and experiencing reality.

The therapeutic focus lies instead in reducing suffering, improving regulation, strengthening self-esteem, and helping highly sensitive children function more safely and coherently within their environments.

Conclusion

This article proposes that transgenerational emotional patterns, embodied memory, and unresolved trauma may play an important role in the emotional and physiological experiences of certain neurodivergent children.

Through the case of my son Daniel, I have attempted to illustrate how Regression Therapy, symbolic processing, somatic awareness, and transgenerational perspectives may contribute to deeper therapeutic understanding and emotional integration.

The concept of “memories of suffocation” should not be interpreted as a rigid scientific construct, but as a phenomenological framework emerging from repeated clinical observations.

Further interdisciplinary research is needed to explore the relationships between:

• trauma,
• epigenetics,
• nervous-system regulation,
• neurodivergence,
• attachment,
• and transgenerational transmission.

Ultimately, this work seeks to encourage greater awareness of how unresolved emotional experiences may continue to influence descendants across generations—and how therapeutic approaches integrating body, mind, emotion, and symbolic experience may support healing and regulation.

References

Bydlowski, M. (1978). Research on unconscious problematics in human reproduction and perinatal psychopathology.

Delgado, C. G., & Tapiador, S. (2025). Child Regression Therapy: Practical Manual.

Spanish Association of Regression Therapy. (2022). The Soul Unveiled.

Spanish Association of Regression Therapy. (2025). Regression Therapy, Gestation and Birth.

Tapiador Coello, S. (2024). Take Care of Your Energy, Take Care of Your Superpower.

Wolynn, M. (2017). It Didn’t Start with You. Penguin Life.

Yehuda R, Lehrner A. Intergenerational transmission of trauma effects: putative role of epigenetic mechanisms. World Psychiatry. 2018 Oct;17(3):243-257. doi: 10.1002/wps.20568. PMID: 30192087; PMCID: PMC6127768.

Biography: Sonia Tapiador Coello, holds a Degree in Psychology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2002. She began her professional career as a psychologist in the educational field (primary school), providing psychological, emotional, and pedagogical support to neurodivergent children and their families. During these 5 years, she coordinated this work with her role as a polysomnographic technician in the Sleep Laboratory of the Neurology Department at Quirón Clinic in Barcelona, where she conducted and supervised sleep studies for clients with Sleep Disorders and associated pathologies.

During 2006, she combined her work in the educational field with immersion in the clinical setting, beginning to work as a psychotherapist in a psychological practice. In 2007, she launched a meaningful project and founded a Psychological, Psychopedagogical, and Speech Therapy Center in Rubí (Barcelona, Spain): Educainfants. Since then, she has directed the center and has worked with children, adolescents, adults, the elderly, couples, and families. She is a specialist in Neurodivergence, Trauma, Grief, and Affective Disorders. She currently manages the center, but provides online sessions from her new residence in Cambrils (Tarragona, Spain).

She offers an Integrative Therapy focused on Personal Growth and Emotional-Mental Development, in which she combines all her psychological training, her experience gained over 24 years of professional practice, and transpersonal/associative/energetic tools that allow the Reconnection and Integration of Body, Emotions, Mind, and Spirit.

Additional Training: Treatment of self-control problems through Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, Approach to Couples Therapy from Cognitive Therapy, and other training in Energy Therapies. In 2021, she trained as a Regression Therapy Therapist at the ATMA School (Málaga) with Professor Carlos González, a direct disciple of José Luis Cabouli and president of the Spanish Association of Regression Therapy (AETR). She is a member of AETR and co-author of its first published book: “The Soul Unveiled.”

She is a speaker and disseminator at conferences. She has participated in the AETR International Symposia in 2023 and 2024, and in the 2025 International Congress with the presentations: “Regression Therapy in Childhood,” “Special Children: Beyond Acronyms and Labels,” and “Regression Therapy and Responsible Parenthood.” She has also participated in the 14th International Tarot Congress in Barcelona with the practical presentation: “Regression Therapy and the Major Arcana.”

She is a specialist in Child Regression Therapy and a trainer in this discipline. She teaches courses on “Major Arcana and Regression Therapy” and other tools integrated into her methodology (Psycho-numerology, Evolutionary Tarot, Associative Cards…).

She is a Practicum Supervisor in the Regression Psychotherapy Training led by Carlos González Delgado, president of AETR. She is a professor at the Spanish Association of Regression Therapy, where she teaches, together with two other professionals, the International Practical Course in Psychotherapy Applied to Regression Therapy and Holistic Disciplines.

She is also a professor in the 2026 International Advanced Course in Regression Therapy organized by Espacio Atman.

Author of “Take Care of Your Energy, Take Care of Your Superpower” (2024), a therapeutic story with activities to learn tools for care, cleansing, protection, recharging, and energetic recovery for children and adults. It integrates Emotional Education, Psychology, Energy Therapy, and Regression Therapy.

Co-author with Carlos González of the book “Child Regression Therapy: Practical Manual” (2025).

Publication in September 2025 in The International Journal of Regression Therapy (Regressionjournal.org) of the article: “My Experience and Subjective Understanding of Karma.”

CONTACT:

Sonia Tapiador Coello

Registered Psychologist No. 15857

Online sessions Phone: +34 660065516