Intergenerational Trauma and Imposter Phenomenon with Dr. Lisette Sanchez

We are thrilled to announce the new episode of our segment “Esencia: Latina Wellness,” where we welcome the exceptional Dr. Lisette Sanchez! Dr. Sanchez is a licensed psychologist, speaker, and writer who has dedicated her career to supporting BIPOC individuals and first-generation professionals. She is known for her work in addressing intergenerational trauma and combating the imposter phenomenon.

Meet Dr. Lisette Sanchez

Dr. Lisette Sanchez is an award-winning bilingual and bicultural licensed psychologist from Southern California. She is the founder of Calathea Wellness Coaching and Psychological Services, Inc., where she works to demystify and destigmatize therapy and mental wellness, especially for Latine First-Gen Professionals. Lisette is also a dynamic presence on social media, with a YouTube channel called “The First Gen Psychologist” and an engaging Instagram account where she shares valuable mental health resources.

During our conversation, Dr. Sanchez shared her inspiring story of growing up as the eldest child of Mexican and Salvadoran immigrant parents. She said, “What my parents taught me the most was the importance of taking a risk and betting on yourself. They took the biggest risk by coming to this country. They didn’t know anything, they didn’t know anyone, they were so afraid. My mom came with a coyote from El Salvador, so it was very scary for her. But they did it, because they knew that’s what they needed to do to survive. So now I tell myself that any risk that I take, anytime I bet on myself, it’s no longer just to survive, but it’s to thrive. Because that’s the foundation they established for me.”

Dr. Sanchez spoke passionately about her journey to becoming a psychologist: “It felt like a calling for me. I wanted to help people. And I also wanted to understand. I was very curious about how our cultura impacted our mental health and wellness. De dónde me nació I can’t really tell you because that’s just what I wanted. I had no idea what you needed to do to become a psychologist at the time. I just said ‘this is what I’m going to do’. So here I am, doing exactly what I wanted to do and in ways that I never actually imagined that I would get to. I didn’t grow up with social media. And to now be in this space, where I can amplify and elevate the voices of my fellow Latinx folks and highlight the importance of our mental health.”

Breaking the Cycle of Intergenerational Trauma

In our interview, we also discussed the impact of intergenerational trauma on mental health and how to break these cycles. Lisette explained, “It is about overcoming the initial stigma, because in the Latinx community the stigma is heavy, it’s heavy. You grow up hearing ‘terapia es para locos’, something you should be ashamed of and ‘we don’t talk about this, you keep it within yourself, within the family’. But people are starting to learn that that silence is part of intergenerational trauma. and that is a cycle we want to break. When we go to therapy, and we start to learn more about the patterns we inherited, we can start to break them, to change them. But it starts with not silencing ourselves anymore.”

And she went on, “Intergenerational trauma is essentially trauma that is passed down from one generation to the next. This could be a behavior, it can be social, and it’s also in your DNA. I’m not a neuropsychologist, so I can’t go into details, but I can speak the more social. And I will talk about parentification: when you are placed into the role of an adult when you are young. When that is what you know, that is what you will perpetuate. You are not trying to harm anyone, but it can be harmful for individuals. They can develop anxiety, depression, a sense of isolation as they become older because they never got to experience those development milestones that are appropriate for that age. They were just told ‘you are an adult now, you have to take care of this, you gotta do this for family’”.

Understanding the Imposter Phenomenon

Dr. Sanchez also shared her research on the imposter phenomenon and how it affects individuals. She described, “So how it would impact an individual, something that’s most common and something that we all are familiar with, is the imposter phenomenon. You start to feel ‘oh I’m not from here, I’m not from there, now I’m experiencing self doubt because I’m worrying that I’m a fraud, that someone is going to discover that’. And there are other mental health impacts like self isolation, anxiety, depression and general unhealthy coping behaviors. When you don’t identify with anyone, you are not sure how to exist, where do you fit, you might turn into unhealthy coping strategies, like substance use”

“I talk about it as a phenomenon, but most people say its syndrome. But when the term was originally developed, it was always phenomenon, because it’s meant to define an experience that we have, that’s a reaction to our environment. So you feel like an imposter because you walk into somewhere and someone questions your identity immediately. That’s why you start to question yourself. Not because you don’t belong there, but because someone says that. Or you can look around and no one looks like you, no one has those shared experiences. But the self doubt that we feel when we start a new job or we do something for the first time, is normal. But we pathologized it by calling it a syndrome. So I’m trying to reclaim and remind people that we should call it a phenomenon, because that is what it is,” she added, on the term.

Dr. Lisette Sanchez’s insights are truly eye-opening and inspiring. We invite you to join us on this episode of Esencia to hear more from her.

The episode will stream on the LATV broadcast channel this Sunday, June 2nd, at 4:00 pm PST / 7:00 pm EST or watch online here.

Don’t miss this chance to learn from Dr. Sanchez and gain valuable insights into mental health, intergenerational trauma, and the imposter phenomenon.