“I have asked myself hundreds of times whether I am a good mother”, says the survivor of sexual violence, Shyrete Tahiri-Sulimani. This shows that she has never been able to completely overcome her terrible experiences, thus reflecting on her daughters as well. In addition to Shyrete, the study carried out in Kosovo shows that the traumas of sexually abused women are also passed on to their children.
On Thursday, KRCT (Kosova Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims) published the research “Can family intervention reverse the effects of maternal Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the transgenerational trauma which may lead to epigenetic modification in the next generation?”. Children showed changes in cortisol levels and mental health problems.
62 mothers and 62 children were included in this research, where the findings suggest the potential for interventions to interrupt the transmission of trauma…
