Background: In this keynote Dr.Yehuda will review several examples of intergenerational transmission of trauma and PTSD effects,ranging from preconception,in utero, post-conception and behavioral.She will be using unique population such as adult-child and Holocaust survivors and babies whose mothers were exposed to 9/11.Concepts related to epigenetic mechanisms will be described in detail.
I. Background on intergenerational trauma effects
II. Examples of intergenerational effects outside of mental health
III. Holocaust survivor offspring-clinical description
IV. What gets "transmitted?"
V. Mechanisms of transmission
a. Epigenetics
b. Pre-conception
c. In utero
d. Behavioral/early childhood effects
e. Maternal vs. paternal effects
VI. Resilience
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.
Rachel Yehuda, PhD is a Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Director of the Mental Health Patient Care Center at the James J. Peters Bronx Veterans Affairs hospital, both in New York City. She has published several hundred papers and compiled over 10 edited volumes examining diverse aspects of traumatic stress in various populations. Her research on PTSD has included both human populations and animal models, neuroendocrinology, neuroimaging, genomic and molecular biological studies of trauma,experimental therapeutics including both pharmacological and psychotherapy trials,biomarkers,studies of genetic and epigenetic heritability, gender differences and suicide.
