'I loved reading this book, gained further insight into the complexity of human life, and am inspried by the depth of thought, care and experience the author brings to her work. The book is practical, easy to read, rovesfreely between stories and concepts. The Ancestor Syndrome will appeal to anyne who values therapeutic intervention.' - ANZPA Journal

In a world where natural, social and political disasters are a daily reality, the therapist is increasingly called upon to find rapid and effective methods of treating the survivors of trauma, including sexual abuse, torture, war-related trauma, addiction, depression and bereavement. The contributors to this book provide persuasive evidence of how psychodrama can safely be used to create paths of change for even the most severe traumatization and they also discuss the possible transmission of trauma patterns across generations. Research following World War II, neurobiological studies and other recent research into PTSD has shown that many trauma symptoms are unconscious, non-verbal, right-brained experiences which cannot be accessed through talk therapy. Psychodrama creates a place to act out unprocessed trauma within the containment of therapy, in order to stop the obsessive repetition of the past. Psychodrama with Trauma Survivors documents the impact of trauma and explores the development of treatment, providing integrated models of experiential treatment for clinicians to use. It is an invaluable resource for those interested in psychodrama and those working with trauma survivors.

The body remembers sexual abuse and keeping family secrets causes illness. Unwittingly and unwillingly, our parents and grandparents and ancestors often leave us the legacy of their unfinished mourning, their "undigested" traumas, and the hidden shame of their secret family history. Sexual abuse and other traumas experienced in the family's past create insurmountable or unresolved emotional wounds that leave their mark on future generations. If these emotions are not expressed consciously, they get repressed. The pain then persists unexpressed in the unconscious and is handed down to the children in the next generation. When traumatic things are not talked about at the time, the body is left with the job of expressing this unfelt pain. This is what we call somatization. If such is the case, the child's body can become a physical expression of the withheld emotional pain for the wounded parents or grandparents or great-grandparents, indeed, as a physical "acting out" of their unfelt emotional pain. As a result, it becomes necessary to get the "family skeletons out of the closet" to reveal and heal the repressed historic wounds and free the child's body from the inherited "secret chill." In effect, these secrets are often carried down as an intestinal disturbance in the child's body until someone in the family line actually admits the secret, feels the emotional pain and gets the withheld pain released from the child's body by talking about it to the clinician.