Epigenetic effects and transgenerational transmission of trauma: what can be the molecular signature of the eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)

Every person who experienced a serious stressful event in his/her life is undoubtedly affected in different ways. Traumatic adversity, in particular if experienced during childhood, can provoke biological dysregulation and epigenetic effects. Moreover, a traumatized parent consciously or unconsciously influences their children with respect to the effect that this event has had his/her life. A question that has arisen in parallel with the recognition of the long-term and transformative nature of behaviors deriving from the psychological effects of exposure to trauma, is whether these effects influence offspring through biological mechanisms. Thus, during last decades it was developed the idea that the consequences of a parent's traumatic experience could persist in subsequent generations through epigenetic effects, ie signs encoded on DNA and potentially transmitted through the germ line. The recent studies regarding epigenetic mechanisms in association with the effects of exposure to parental trauma on the offspring will therefore be illustrated in the symposium. In addition, the biological dysregulations identified to date following traumatic events and abuses will be illustrated, especially when these occur in childhood and the role trauma-focused psychotherapy may have in restoring such dysregulations.

Conference

English

Alessandra Minelli

Minelli, A. (2021, June). Epigenetic effects and transgenerational transmission of trauma: what can be the molecular signature of the eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Symposium presented at the 20th EMDR Europe Association Conference, Virtual