Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a heterogeneous disease defined by four Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) symptom clusters: reexperiencing, avoidance, negative alterations in cognitions and mood, and hyperarousal. There are effective evidence-based psychotherapies (EBPs) for PTSD. However, given the variety of PTSD clinical presentations, we conducted the first meta-analysis investigating whether DSM-5 PTSD symptom clusters show different responses to EBPs.

The transgenerational impact of trauma is an emergent focus in the field of trauma research. A growing body of evidence suggests important consequences for the descendants of trauma survivors, at the individual, as well as the collective, and systemic levels. After a brief introduction to the main concepts and a summary of the key findings by population, the current article proposes a novel comprehensive model: the historical intergenerational trauma transmission model (HITT model).

A central goal in the field of developmental psychopathology is to evaluate the complex, dynamic transactions occurring among biological, psychological, and broader social-cultural contexts that predict adaptive and maladaptive outcomes across ontogeny. Here, I briefly review research on the effects of a history of childhood maltreatment on parental, child, and dyadic functioning, along with more recent studies on the intergenerational transmission of trauma.

Background

Robust evidence suggests that individuals exposed to childhood trauma are more vulnerable to suffering from later depression. However, the pathway connecting the experience of childhood trauma and depression remains unclear.

Participants and settings