Tonight I learned from a podcast that children are three times more likely to have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder if one of their parents suffered from PTSD before birth. Got that? It may be passed in utero. Chilling news, that!
I'm surely not alone in wondering what family traits came from which ancestor. Have you too wished you could time travel for a week? Censuses and vital records don't tell if someone was athletic, had a curious mind, a love of animals or playing the fiddle. Many 19th century obituaries speak of a person's 24/7 prayer life, and their love of Scripture. (Well-thumbed were the Old Testament's stories of polygamy, no doubt, as a few Dearly Departed enjoyed many spouses).
A glimpse of a family's heart ache is learned when you count the number of children they buried. The 1910 Federal Census asked each parent how many children had been born--and what number were still alive. The numbers are frequently different. How did this affect my ancestors? When families emigrated hundreds of miles to new homes, how easy or difficult was it to adjust? Feeding large families must have been a burden in itself. How did people manage stress?
It is an interesting half-hour show on Studio Tulsa's "Medical Monday" program. Author Mark Wolynn, director of The Family Constellation Institute in San Francisco, discussed his work and that of Rachel Yehuda's research at Mount Sinai Hospital of children AND grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. Fascinating! Public Radio Tulsa's podcast link is:
http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/st-medical-monday-it-didnt-start-you-how-inherited-family-trauma-shapes-who-we-are#stream/0
Wolynn's book is now on my mobile: It Didn't Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle.