Transmission of Trauma in Families

What is it about?

Trauma is transmitted in families through the mechanisms that all families use in their primary tasks such as protecting, socializing and educating their offspring. A theoretical framework is proposed focusing on how roles and authority are exercised and how boundaries are maintained. Clinical examples of the trauma of the Holocaust are used. However this framework also applies to the effects of collective traumas such as war, slavery and racism, and even prejudices such as homophobia.

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Why is it important?

The theoretical framework proposed in looking at how trauma is transmitted in families can be useful in mental health services. The trauma transmitted is often obscured in later generations while the effect develops a life of its own in the way the family exercises its roles, authority and maintains its boundaries. This has implications for social policy as well as education of populations particularly affected by war, violence and various types of prejudice such as racism and homophobia.