PTSD transmission: a review of secondary traumatization in Holocaust survivor families

Canadian Psychology, Nov 1998 by Williams-Keeler, Lyn, McCarrey, Michael, Baranowsky, Anna B, Young, Marta, Johnson-Douglas, Sue

Heavily implicated in the theories of trauma transmission is the role of parental communication about the Holocaust as well as the family bond. However, none of the theories reviewed here have been satisfactorily studied. They lead to more questions, one of the most central being: If trauma transmission takes place what exactly is transmitted through the generations?

PTSD Transmission

McCann and Pearlman (1990) brought forward the idea of vicarious traumatization, later coined compassion fatigue by Figley (Edwards, 1995) to describe trauma that is transmitted over the course of therapy from client to counsellor, but not related specifically to Holocaust survivors. An even more dramatic example of the stressful impact of exposure to Holocaust-related material was described by McCarroll, Blank, and Hill (1995). In their study, Holocaust Memorial Museum staff exposed to personal artifacts, survivor histories, and archival materials, reported a range of stress reactions including: states of emotional numbing, social withdrawal, grief reactions, nightmares, and anger. If trauma is so volatile as to leave its mark on a therapist who meets a client for a limited period of time, or museum staff who come in contact with historical material alone, we must ask what happens to the offspring of trauma victims who interact with these individuals on a daily basis.

Bergmann and Jucovy (1982) suggest that the traumatic Holocaust experiences of one's parents pose a mental health risk to the offspring and that:

... so far as our own experience goes, it is not possible for a child to grow up, without becoming scarred, in a world where the Holocaust is the dominant psychic reality. With few exceptions, the mental health of children of survivors is in jeopardy ... (p. 312).

This literature review reflects on the question of whether a secondary PTSD is being transmitted from one generation to the next in significant numbers of Holocaust survivor families, as Bergmann and Jucovy suggest. This is not to say that PTSD symptoms will be identical to the parents, or utterly debilitating in successive generations, but that parentally transmitted PTSD may be manifested in offspring of traumatized parents.

Solomon, Kotler, and Mikulincer (1988) collaborated on a unique research project that specifically set out to measure PTSD in the second generation. This longitudinal study found significant differences on PTSD measures between Israeli soldiers (with survivor parents and those without survivor parents) exposed to combat situations. Offspring of survivors reported a greater number of PTSD symptoms that endured over a longer period of time than soldiers whose parents were not Holocaust survivors. All subjects were reported to be psychologically and physically healthy prior to participation in combat situations. The authors concluded that these results are indicative of a PTSD latency or greater susceptibility to PTSD among the second generation when confronted with major stressors.