Francisco Castillo — Essays & Updates https://franciscoauthor.com/ Essays, release notes, and reading lists from Francisco Castillo — author, therapist, and former Navy veteran. Six volumes on rewriting the emotional code that shapes generations. en-us © 2026 Francisco Castillo Fri, 08 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Franciscocastilloauthor@gmail.com (Francisco Castillo) Franciscocastilloauthor@gmail.com (Francisco Castillo) https://franciscoauthor.com/images/francisco-logo-600.webp Francisco Castillo — Essays & Updates https://franciscoauthor.com/ Aguántate: what the first year of fatherhood costs the men taught not to feel https://franciscoauthor.com/essays/aguantate-first-year-fatherhood.html https://franciscoauthor.com/essays/aguantate-first-year-fatherhood.html Fri, 08 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Franciscocastilloauthor@gmail.com (Francisco Castillo) Fatherhood Most new fathers look fine for a year. Then the silence they have been storing starts collecting interest. From the therapist chair: what men are actually carrying into fatherhood, and what it costs to keep silence from becoming the family language. What is generational trauma, really? https://franciscoauthor.com/essays/what-is-generational-trauma.html https://franciscoauthor.com/essays/what-is-generational-trauma.html Tue, 22 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT Franciscocastilloauthor@gmail.com (Francisco Castillo) Generational Trauma A therapist's definition — not the academic one, not the TikTok one. What actually gets passed down, how it shows up in adult life, and what the work of stopping it looks like in practice. Signs you inherited your family's trauma https://franciscoauthor.com/essays/signs-you-inherited-trauma.html https://franciscoauthor.com/essays/signs-you-inherited-trauma.html Tue, 22 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT Franciscocastilloauthor@gmail.com (Francisco Castillo) Generational Trauma Ten things I see in session that are almost always inherited rather than personal. If you recognize yourself in half of these, you're not broken — you're carrying somebody else's survival. Why generational trauma keeps repeating https://franciscoauthor.com/essays/why-generational-trauma-keeps-repeating.html https://franciscoauthor.com/essays/why-generational-trauma-keeps-repeating.html Tue, 22 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT Franciscocastilloauthor@gmail.com (Francisco Castillo) Generational Trauma The mechanism, not the metaphor. Why patterns skip generations, why the kids who swore they'd be different end up reenacting the thing, and what breaks the loop. Generational trauma in Latino families — what it actually looks like https://franciscoauthor.com/essays/generational-trauma-latino-families.html https://franciscoauthor.com/essays/generational-trauma-latino-families.html Tue, 22 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT Franciscocastilloauthor@gmail.com (Francisco Castillo) Latino Mental Health A Mexican American therapist on the specific shapes generational trauma takes in Latino households — migration, machismo, silence, dichos, and the stories we weren't supposed to tell. Mexican American men and the emotional inheritance nobody names https://franciscoauthor.com/essays/mexican-american-men-emotional-inheritance.html https://franciscoauthor.com/essays/mexican-american-men-emotional-inheritance.html Tue, 22 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT Franciscocastilloauthor@gmail.com (Francisco Castillo) Latino Mental Health The specific weight Mexican American men carry, and why most of us don't have language for it until somebody else names it first. Six books every therapist should read on generational trauma https://franciscoauthor.com/essays/therapist-books-generational-trauma.html https://franciscoauthor.com/essays/therapist-books-generational-trauma.html Tue, 22 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT Franciscocastilloauthor@gmail.com (Francisco Castillo) Reading List A short, opinionated reading list — the books that actually changed how I work, and why each one matters.