Can trauma pass from parent to child? It’s an interesting question. Some leading-edge research suggests that it’s possible – trauma felt by survivors might even affect their children’s gene expression. But we don’t need epigenetics to study how trauma strikes across generations. For example, researchers at Auburn University studied a more mundane form of intergenerational trauma transmission. Led by Mona El-Sheikh, PhD, a research team looked at whether household stress harms children’s stress response systems. They proposed that children who experience marital conflict will experience stress that results in poorer cognitive performance. To test this hypothesis, researchers observed 251 children…

Trauma can change the brain . . . . . . but it doesn’t just change the survivor’s brain. In fact, it can actually change the brains of the survivor’s children – in some pretty insidious ways. Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD explains how traumatic experiences can affect a mother’s children, even if the children themselves haven’t experienced trauma. Take a look – it’s only 4 minutes. Click here to sign up. You can hear more from Ruth this Wednesday, when she’ll be joining us for a webinar as part of our New Frontiers in the Treatment of Trauma series. She’ll…

Most of us probably graduated many years ago from the fairy tales of our childhood into the popular novels or biographies of adulthood. But one thing remains the same, regardless of age . . . . . . we all appreciate a good story. And aside from the pure enjoyment it gives us, and the connection to others, there’s one surprising benefit to storytelling that we might not be aware of: It can change your brain. Louis Cozolino, PhD explains why in this short video clip – just click below to check it out (it’s just 3 minutes). Click here…

We put a lot of work into our series. There’s a lot of research, preparation, writing and editing, filming – you name it. But as the New Brain Science series winds to a close, and we pause to catch our breaths, I want to take a moment to appreciate one important thing that we can’t do ourselves. I’m talking about our comment boards. Every time we run a series, I’m impressed by the quality, thoughtfulness, and insight of everyone who contributes after each webinar. And what’s even better are the discussions that spring up – between nurses, counselors, psychiatrists, and…

“Listen to your heart.” That might sound overly romantic, but it could also be one way to improve your mental health. . . . . . at least, according to a study by researchers at the University of London. Led by Manos Tsakiris, PhD, researchers set out to see how paying attention to the rhythms of your own body affects mental health. They gathered 50 healthy female volunteers between the ages of 19 and 26 for the study. First, they measured each woman’s interoceptive awareness – in other words, how in tune they were with the information from within their…

We owe the brain a lot. Our brains are always looking out for us. They’re wired to help us survive – alerting us to threats and ramping up our amygdala to help us take action. But that same survival trigger makes healing from trauma difficult, says Pat Ogden, PhD. In fact, the very systems that are designed to keep us safe can actually stimulate trauma over and over again. Knowing how to interrupt this cycle is key to healing trauma, and Pat will show us how this Wednesday. Here’s a preview clip – I think you’ll find it fascinating, even…