The Effect of Trauma on the Next Generation

Recent advances in molecular biology, genomics, and epigenomics, has now provided paradigms for understanding long term effects of stress. This presentation will focus on intergenerational transmission of trauma as a particularly enduring effect of stress. Most of the research has been conducted on adult children of Holocaust survivors, but has now generalized to include children of other trauma survivors such as children born to pregnant women who survived the world trade center attack on 9/11. The research has evolved into one that explains the contribution of early environmental experiences-including parenting-on highly conserved molecular and genomic processes. These changes in and of themselves do not signify pathology, but provide a paradigm for understanding long term effects of profoundly important events. The work has already led to a better understanding of biological risk factors for PTSD, and predictors of outcome in response to trauma.

Educational Objectives

At the end of this presentation, participants will be able to:

• Understand biological mechanisms associated with Epigenetics (including preconception, in utero, and postnatal influences.
• Understand intergenerational transmission and risk for psychopathology in offspring.
• Understand enduring biological alterations.

Rachel Yehuda, Ph.D. is a Professor and Vice Chair of Psychiatry, and Professor of Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She is also the Mental Health Patient Care Center Director at the Bronx Veterans Affairs. She has published several hundred scientific papers and compiled over 10 books examining diverse aspects of traumatic stress, and has studied PTSD and resilience in combat veterans, survivors of genocide, interpersonal violence and terrorism, as well as in animal models. Her work has focused on neuroendocrinology, neuroimaging, genomic and molecular biological studies of trauma, experimental therapeutics (pharmacological and psychotherapy trials), biomarkers, genetic and epigenetic heritability, gender differences, and suicide.