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…

Focusing on positive experiences is a reflex for some, but it’s a skill that all of us would be wise to adopt. Because not only can it be just plain enjoyable to mentally relive good experiences, it can actually rewire your brain. New findings keep showing us that everything we do affects our brain. But that is in both positive and negative ways. So wherever we focus our attention, we’re making lasting change, for better or worse. But Rick Hanson, PhD has a way that we can positively influence changes in the brain – and it can even extend our…

How can this keep happening? That was my immediate thought upon hearing the tragic news of this latest school shooting that took place yesterday in my home state of Connecticut. The unthinkable has happened again, this time at an elementary school – 26 dead, 18 of them children, at the time of this writing. The details, I’m sure, will keep trickling out for weeks to come. But the heartbreak is here and now, and the wounds of such trauma run incredibly deep for the families whose lives have just changed irrevocably. And even though in our work as practitioners we’re…