"Veterans' Children" Validates Trans-Generational Trauma Of War
Main Category: Veterans / Ex-ServicemenAlso Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry; Anxiety / Stress; Mental Health
Article Date: 11 Nov 2009 - 6:00 PDT
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Since the Vietnam Era, the American psychiatric community has recognized the returning war veterans' affliction of what is now commonly known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
While there has been much research and advancements in the treatment of PTSD, the focus has always been on the veterans themselves. What has never been addressed or understood, until now, is how the stress from distant battlefields has affected the families of veterans.
Today - Veterans' Day - the first organization to support warfare's often invisible victims has launched an online community, http://www.veteranschildren.com. Denver-based Veterans' Children is dedicated to exploring the trans-generational consequences of living with the trauma of war and serves as a resource center and support group for thousands of individuals and families affected by PTSD.
"Veterans' Children's mission is to heal, inform and serve as a forum for veterans and their families in creating a bridge of emotional reconciliation between children and their parents who have served our country from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam to today's conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan," explained the organization's founder, Leila Levinson, author of Gated Grief, a memoir and oral history about her father's experience as a Jewish-American doctor liberating a Nazi Concentration Camp in 1945.
Inspired by her own experience of trans-generational trauma, Levinson spent several years interviewing dozens of World War II veterans and their grown children across the country. Addressing the "collateral damage" experienced by these veterans' children was the inspiration for Gated Grief and the creation of the new organization.
"As I spoke with these veterans - most now in their 80s - and their families, I understood that the inability to process this grief or to even speak about these experiences has affected the lives of thousands of Americans over several generations. Addressing this trauma is the goal of my book and of Veterans' Children."
The site's navigation is designed to allow visitors to engage in conversations with other veterans and other children and grandchildren of veterans, to get information about PTSD, and to tell their stories - through words, photographs and video.
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Veterans' Children
Visit our veterans / ex-servicemen section for the latest news on this subject.
MLA
13 Feb. 2012. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/170627.php>
APA
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/170627.php.
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Clarification - Re: "Veterans' Children" Validates Trans-Generational Trauma Of War
posted by Anon on 20 May 2010 at 4:21 pmI stumbled onto this site 5-20-10. First, any support for children and families of veterans is appreciated and important. My father was a WWII veteran and I speak from experience. However, the article is very mistaken and misleading on two points that I wish to clarify. The statements "the focus has always been on the veterans themselves" and "What has never been addressed or understood, until now..." are not accurate.
The fact is that there have been many studies and many attempts to address these issues over the years. For example, in the early 80s there were groups set up to help spouses and children and much research has been done since that time. Many groups and activities are now available to families and children of current veterans as a result of those earlier efforts. While I applaud efforts to help the children and families of veterans, the statement "the first organization to support warfare's often invisible victims" is not true. Statements like that concern me. First, because they are not true. Second, they create the impression no one cared enough before this group, and that is an injustice to those who did, in fact, bring attention to these issues years ago.
Daughter of Drafted Army Vet
posted by Cindy on 22 Sep 2010 at 11:19 amI am very interested in the "help" you claim was available to the spouses and children during the 80's. I survived my father's PTSD, both physical and phycological abuse. Where was the help my mother and I needed when my father returned from Vietnam in 1972? What kind of "groups" are you referring to, be specific please.
The medical problems of children born after their fathers returned from the Vietnam era--is there help anywhere for them.
posted by Ruth Williams Prince on 14 Nov 2010 at 6:08 amMy daughter was born after my former husband returned from Vietnam and she suffers from all types of medical problems. She's suffers with depression, unable to just go to the grocery store by herself and many more things. Her father and I divorced after some years of trying to understand what happened to him while he was in Vietnam, but there was no reason for the government to forget about the children born after the Vietnam era. There are alot of them out here hurting daily and don't understand why. As a mother of a grown child, I want to know why the divorced mother of children born after these men returned home was unble to get help for their child/ren?
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