Descendants bear imprints of ancestral traumas

Brian Dias, assistant professor of psychiatry at Emory University’s School of Medicine, Atlanta, discusses his research on how ancestral traumas exert influence on descendants’ biology and neurobiology. Understanding who might be at risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder or anxiety because of ancestral traumas may help us find ways to reverse or stop this development, thus preventing cycles of neuropsychiatric disorders from perpetuating across generations.