Trauma Symptoms can be Inherited

Researchers have known since WWII that trauma symptoms could be passed down from generation to generation. This is not to say that they are genetically passed from one generation to another, but that behavior patterns that develop in families as a result of one or more members being traumatized can be handed down for at least two generations. Studies of survivors of the WWII holocaust showed that the symptoms were handed down as far as their grandchildren.

I myself have observed this in my clients. I don't think I will ever forget the year in which I had three middle aged women on my caseload who all appeared to be suffering from "shell shock", yet they had experienced no identifiable trauma. It was not until I talked to the mother of one client who also appeared "shell shocked" that I began to ask different questions and receive very interesting answers. The mother of this client was English and had lived through the bombings by the German army. One parent of the second client was French and had lived through the invasion by the Germans. The father of the third client was an American WWII veteran who suffered severe "shell shock". Suddenly, it all made sense, to both myself and the clients. When I started to suggest my suspicions that their symptoms were not their own, but something they learned from their parents I could see the light go on.

Trauma and Substance Abuse - When They Coexist

I worked for several years at a methadone program for the treatment of opiate addiction (usually heroin). This is where I was originally introduced to trauma and its treatment, or lack thereof. I was surprised to see how many war veterans were in the populations. As I continued to talk to clients, I was further surprised to find that a great majority had serious symtpoms of trauma, or PTSD. However, this was rarely addressed. The heroin addiction was addressed first and foremost. Then they might see a psychiatrist and get medications for various symptoms. Anxiety was the primary complaint, then depression. Insomnia was also a common complaint with nightmares, restlessness, hypervigilance, and the inability to fall asleep or stay asleep cited as problems. But never was the entire picture put together. These are all symptoms of trauma. And the opiates were often being used to treat the trauma symptoms. Working with the trauma through counseling offered some relief from the symptoms and some insight to what the real problem was. However, this is not the norm, especially in substance abuse treatment.

I read a recent article in which the author, a psychologist, had discovered the same high proportion of trauma survivors in the substance abuse community with which he was working. Statistically, clients struggling with substance abuse issues report a much higher percentage of trauma symptoms than the general public. The author also stated that the substance abuse community recommends that someone be clean and sober for one year before engaging treatment for trauma. This is what I found as well, on both counts.

This makes no sense. If the substances are being used to treat the trauma symptoms, abstaining from the substances are going to be impossible for any long period of time unless you help the client develop better, alternative methods for addressing the trauma symptoms. This has to occur simultaneously, or they are doomed to fail in their attempts to abstain. The effects of these repeated "failures" on the client's self esteem and sense of self confidence are devastating.

I have often observed the same phenomenon in the psychiatric arena. Clients present with complaints of anxiety or depression, a pill is tossed to them which is promised to address the symptoms, but no attempt is made to examine the underlying causes of the stress or grief. It's important to look at the entire person, not just the criteria for a DSM IV diagnosis. This becomes increasingly important in a culture which is becoming more and more violent and which now has a constant influx of veterans coming home from war.

Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) and Other Horrors

I read an article the other day about the huge number of veterans in Iraq that the marvels of modern medicine are now being able to save. Soldiers who previously would have died from serious injuries to the head, skull, and brain are now being saved from death. Soldiers in Iraq are experiencing a large number of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). They are being saved from death, patched up and sent home so that Bush will not have to count them as a “casualty”. But what will the quality of their life be? How will this effect the society to which they are being returned?
Having worked intermittently with survivors of head injuries in the state hospital this causes me great concern. I’m no expert on this, but the few patients I’ve worked with were explosive, impulsive, and their higher thinking (judgment, impulse control, emotional control, etc.) was seriously impaired. I worked with a factory worker in the state hospital who had a TBI. By his history he was a mild mannered, outgoing, well-liked person. After the TBI he was hospitalized for shooting his mother in the face with a shotgun because the coffee she served him was too hot. (Details of this story have been changed to protect the patient’s confidentiality).
Medication can be tried to help with the impulsivity and violent outbursts, but its effect is only minimal from what I understand. (If you know more about this, please enlighten me). I wonder if anyone is explaining this to the mothers and fathers, the husbands or wives, the children, of the veterans we are returning home in this condition?
When will we ever learn that no one ever wins a war?