Can children get PTSD from their parents?
It is possible for children to display symptoms of PTSD because they are upset by their parent’s symptoms (secondary traumatization). Some researchers have also investigated the notion that trauma and the symptoms associated with it can be passed from one generation to the next. Researchers describe this phenomenon as intergenerational transmission of trauma. Much research has been conducted with victims of the Holocaust and their families (see Kellerman for review), and some studies have expanded on these ideas to include families of combat veterans with PTSD.Ancharoff, Munroe, and Fisher described several ways to understand the mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of trauma. These mechanisms are silence, overdisclosure, identification, and reenactment.
