Historical intergenerational trauma transmission model: A comprehensive framework of family and offspring processes of transgenerational trauma.

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).

The HITT model comprises five higher-order dimensions, including family vulnerability, offspring vulnerability, family resiliency, offspring resiliency, and historical moral injury. In addition, we propose insidious trauma as an important contextual variable that affects the impact of historical trauma (HT) on mental health and functioning. This is the first conceptual HT model designed to be applicable across populations, and that can be utilized by both researchers and clinicians. The components of the theoretical model, the research and clinical implications of this approach, as well as future directions are discussed.