Israeli study: Children of Holocaust survivors face higher schizophrenia risk
A study from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem indicates that children of Holocaust survivors face a higher risk of developing schizophrenia. The findings suggest that severe parental trauma can have intergenerational effects on the mental health of offspring born decades later.
Why it matters
This research contributes to the understanding of epigenetics and the long-term psychological impact of extreme historical trauma on subsequent generations.
Fortunately, schizophrenia – a chronic and severe mental health disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels, and perceives reality, involving hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking, reduced emotional expression, and a lack of motivation – is rare.The disorder, which is now widely regarded as a neurodevelopmental disorder, affects some 25 million people worldwide, including 70,000 Israelis, which is about one in 143.It's known that the adult children of many Holocaust survivors suffer from trauma as a result of growing up with them and hearing about their horrific experiences, or even when their parents refuse to talk about them.But a new compelling study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) reveals that children born decades after the Holocaust to parents who were older than age five at the time of the initial Nazi persecutions faced elevated schizophrenia risk.
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