Intergenerational Communication of Violent Traumatic Experience Within and by the Dyad The Case of a Mother and Her Toddler

Abstract

This article considers the phenomenon of intergenerational transmission of trauma during the first years of life with particular attention to interpersonal violent trauma. A review of the literature is followed by a detailed case report of a violence-exposed mother and her initially 14-month-old daughter. This case report takes the reader from baseline assessment through multimodal treatment of the family and provides follow-up into the child's sixth year of life. Maternal communication of trauma-associated affect and memory traces via action and language in day-to-day interactions is discussed, along with a hypothetical mechanism to account for distorted maternal perception and disorganizing interactive behavior in the wake of violent trauma.