Witnessing the effects of political violence in families: mechanisms of intergenerational transmission and clinical interventions

In this era of globalization, when news about political violence can haunt anyone, anywhere, those whose families have suffered political violence in the past are particularly vulnerable to current distress. Skilled in understanding transgenerational processes, family therapists need to be familiar with the mechanisms by which children are exposed to the effects of political violence suffered by their elders-that is, the ways in which they become their witnesses. This article presents a framework for understanding how the trauma of political violence experienced in one generation can "pass" to another that did not directly experience it, and proposes a model to guide clinical intervention.