The Long-Term Effects of Living in a Shared and Continuous Traumatic Reality: The Case of Israeli Families on the Border With Gaza

This article presents a literature review of the concept of intergenerational transmission of traumatic stress among a specific population of Israeli parents and children living near the Israeli/Gaza border, an area that can essentially be viewed as a laboratory of shared, continuous, and stressful reality resulting from ongoing political violence. The Google Scholar database was used to search only for peer-reviewed articles written in English and published between 2002 and 2020, and the particular focus of the study was Israeli families living in the “Gaza envelope”: communities that have been on the receiving end of rockets and mortars from Gaza for the past 20 years. The review was based on 35 articles and sheds light on the existence of studies using a variety of perspectives (e.g., psychological, biopsychosocial, and behavioral). Findings demonstrate the effects of continuous stress situations on the family dynamic, even before birth, among this small population. In addition, they show that to understand the unique process of intergenerational trauma transmission in a shared continuous traumatic reality, it is important to adopt a comprehensive perspective so as to understand the reciprocal, long-lasting, and transgenerational effects of being exposed to traumatic stress. This perspective can be used as a basis for developing family intervention strategies that are appropriate for preventing stress outcomes that derive from living in the context of persistent violence.

Characterization of the Variables Related to Reports of Death Due to Canine Bites in Scientific Articles during the Years 2013–2017: A Systematic Review

Canine bites are an important public health problem, with consequences such as physical injuries, psychological trauma, transmission of zoonoses, infections and they can even cause death. To avoid deaths caused by this type of bite, multiple factors related to this issue must be considered. The objective of this review was to search and analyze the indexed scientific literature on canine bites resulting in death, published during the period 2013–2017. A search was carried out in various databases of indexed literature, in Spanish and English. After selecting and excluding items using PRISMA, they were classified according to SIGN guidelines to filter out the level of evidence and potential biases. Thirty-three scientific articles were retrieved and analyzed. In most of these, victims between 50 and 64 years of age (28.6%, 8/28) were registered. Additionally, in most of the articles, only one animal participated (80%, 16/20). The highest number of events occurred in public spaces (58.5%, 7/12). In conclusion, most of the scientific articles that report incidents of dog bites resulting in death, provide details about the victims, their injuries and the treatment received; however, few articles provide background information on the context of the attack and the biting animal.

Intergenerational trauma transmission is associated with brain metabotranscriptome remodeling and mitochondrial dysfunction

Intergenerational trauma increases lifetime susceptibility to depression and other psychiatric disorders. Whether intergenerational trauma transmission is a consequence of in-utero neurodevelopmental disruptions versus early-life mother–infant interaction is unknown. Here, we demonstrate that trauma exposure during pregnancy induces in mouse offspring social deficits and depressive-like behavior. Normal pups raised by traumatized mothers exhibited similar behavioral deficits to those induced in pups raised by their biological traumatized mothers. Good caregiving by normal mothers did not reverse prenatal trauma-induced behaviors, indicating a two-hit stress mechanism comprising both in-utero abnormalities and early-life poor parenting. The behavioral deficits were associated with profound changes in the brain metabotranscriptome. Striking increases in the mitochondrial hypoxia marker and epigenetic modifier 2-hydroxyglutaric acid in the brains of neonates and adults exposed prenatally to trauma indicated mitochondrial dysfunction and epigenetic mechanisms. Bioinformatic analyses revealed stress- and hypoxia-response metabolic pathways in the neonates, which produced long-lasting alterations in mitochondrial energy metabolism and epigenetic processes (DNA and chromatin modifications). Most strikingly, early pharmacological interventions with acetyl-L-carnitine (ALCAR) supplementation produced long-lasting protection against intergenerational trauma-induced depression.

The Transgenerational Transmission of Trauma: The Effects of Maternal PTSD in Mother-Infant Interactions

The objective of the study was to examine the process of mother to infant trauma transmission among traumatized mothers in humanitarian contexts. We investigated the impact of mothers' post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms on the quality of the dyadic interaction by conducting a microanalysis of mother-infant interactions at specific moments when trauma was recalled, compared to more neutral moments. Twenty-four mother-infant dyadic interactions of traumatized mothers and children aged from 1.5 to 30 months Central Africa, Chad, and Cameroon were videotaped during three sequences: a neutral initial session (baseline) exploring mothers' representations of the infant and of their bonding; a second sequence, “the traumatic narration,” in which mothers were asked to talk about the difficult events they had experienced; and a third sequence focusing on a neutral subject. Three minutes of each sequence were coded through a specific grid for microanalysis [based on the scales developed at Bobigny Faculty of Medicine and the work of (1)], according to different communication modalities (touch, visual, and vocal), for both the mother and the child. Impact of traumatic event (IES-R), the level of depression and anxiety (HAD) were investigated in order to have a holistic understanding of the trauma transmission mechanism. The data analysis highlighted significant differences in mothers, children and their interaction during the “traumatic narration”: mothers touched and looked at the infant less, looked more absent and smiled less, and looked less at the interviewer; infants looked less at the interviewer, and sucked the breast more. The mother-child interaction “infant self-stimulation—mother looks absent” and “Infant sucks the breast—mother looks absent” occurred more often during the mothers' traumatic narrations. The “absence” of the mother during trauma recall seems to have repercussions on infants' behavior and interaction; infants show coping strategies that are discussed. We found no significant associations between interaction and infant gender and age, the severity of traumatic experience, mothers' depression and anxiety symptoms, and the country of residence. The results of the microanalysis of interaction can shed light on the fundamental role of intermodal exchanges between mother and infant in trauma transmission during mothers' trauma reactivation.