INTRODUCTION

The case study by Busch and Lieberman describes a young pregnant woman who had experienced multiple forms of severe trauma while growing up. Her experiences ranged from severe, adverse early life events (loss of father and severe mental illness with substance abuse in mother); to traumatic events she witnessed as a child (including physical abuse of her mother, her uncle's sexual abuse of his patients, and death of a cousin from a gunshot); to persistent adult trauma (abuse by her male partners). Psychologically, she had responded to these experiences by (1) dissociating from memories of the actual events, and (2) developing serious psychiatric and behavioral disorders. The latter included depression, substance abuse, attempted suicide, and aggressive behaviors. In addition, she became a victim of violence by male partners.

The Busch and Lieberman study reveals insights into the transgenerational transmission of psychopathology initiated by early life trauma and explores the potential of perinatal child–parent psychotherapy to break the cycle of intergenerational perpetuation. Although clinical knowledge of relationships between childhood trauma and adult psychopathology dates back to the insights of Freud (1986) and Bowlby (1940), neurobiological mechanisms underlying these behavioral changes have been described only in the last 20 years.

Based on extensive clinical experience, Freud and others first postulated that adverse early childhood experiences can influence adult mental states, distorting interactional bonding patterns and ultimately producing distinctive clinical signs and psychopathological symptoms in the affected individual.