PTSD transmission: A review of secondary traumatization in Holocaust survivor families.

Abstract

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) provides a common language for diagnoses and assessment of trauma victims, including Holocaust survivors. Many of these survivors established post-war families and it is here that we began to witness the possibility of trauma transmission. Parental communication regarding the Holocaust, often characterized by obsessive re-telling or all-consuming silence, and strong family ties are implicated in the theoretical literature on trauma transmission. Terms such as vicarious, empathic, and secondary traumatization have been used to describe intergenerational trauma transmission. The crucial emergent question is whether a secondary PTSD syndrome, reflected in the current PTSD symptomology, is being transmitted from one generation to the next. There is evidence in the literature to support this hypothesis and a call is made for rigorous empirical studies as the test.

Systemic Traumatic Stress: The Couple Adaptation to Traumatic Stress Model

“…The literature that describes a systemic approach to trauma primarily involves secondary traumatic stress theory (Figley, 1983(Figley, , 1998, adult attachment theory (Johnson, 2002), and the relational approach to trauma treatment (Sheinberg & Fraenkel, 2001). Several terms have been used to describe these secondary effects, like "compassion fatigue" (Figley, 1995(Figley, , 2002, "vicarious traumatization" (McCann & Pearlman, 1990;Pearlman & Saakvitne, 1995), "burnout" (Figley, 1998), "trauma transmission" (Baranowsky, Young, Johnson-Douglas, Williams-Keeler, & McCarrey, 1998), and "witnessing" (Weingarten, 2003(Weingarten, , 2004.…”

Unethical and Unwell: Decrements in Well-Being and Unethical Activity at Work

“…People who work closely with those who have been victimized are at risk of decrements in their own well-being, including the development of obsessivecompulsive disorders, depression, and anxiety (Arzi et al, 2000;Collins and Long, 2003;Pearlman, 1995;Pearlman and Mac Ian, 1995). Such secondhand distress has been seen in spouses of war veterans (Arzi et al, 2000;Bramsen et al, 2002) as well as in children of parents who were victimized (Baranowsky et al, 1998;Dulmus and Wodarski, 2000).…”

The effects of trauma on intimate relationships: A qualitative study with clinical couples.

“…Several terms have been used to describe these secondary effects, like compassion fatigue (Figley, 1995(Figley, , 2002, vicarious traumatization (McCann & Pearlman, 1990;Pearlman & Saakvitne, 1995), burnout (Figley, 1998), trauma transmission (Baranowsky, Young, JohnsonDouglas, Williams-Keeler, & McCarrey, 1998), and witnessing (Weingarten, 2003(Weingarten, , 2004.…”