"Inherited Fear" - Sally Herships
The American journalist, Sally Herships, has long felt she carries within herself a sense of the trauma suffered by her grandmother a century ago, in Russia, and subsequently passed down through her own mother. How is it possible to explain a fear that isn’t of anything tangible or present, a fear that isn’t our own, that isn’t rooted in direct experience? Psychiatrists know that behavior can condition how we feel with physically-measurable impact. But now, neuro-epigeneticists believe it’s possible that our biology may be altered by trauma and then, apparently carried on through reproduction to future generations. Rachel Yehuda, PhD, professor of psychiatry, neuroscience, and director of the division of traumatic stress studies at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, studied the impact of trauma on the fetuses of pregnant women caught up in the 9/11 attacks. Her and her colleagues measured the cortisol levels in the children, and found that those born to the women who had developed PTSD had lower levels of the hormone than the others.
- Rachel Yehuda, PhD, Professor, Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Director, Division of Traumatic Stress Studies, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai