Parenting with unresolved posttraumatic stress - Some tips from an expert

(Published: 2025-07-01; reviewed: 2025-07-01:1108 Pacific Time (USA))

Robyn Koslowitz was a psychologist with PTSD, in a time when it wasn't much talked about. She didn't have words for what was happening to her, but she knew something was not right. She was having flashbacks and panic attacks[^1]. Then she got pregnant, at which point she was not the only one she was concerned about. { .lead} She tells of seriously worrying about the effect of her distressing symptoms on her baby.[^3] Then, as her family grew, she continued to worry about how she was affecting her children. Searching for information on this, she found nothing at all helpful. Now, some years later, she has published a book for women in the situation she was in - the book she wished she could have had at that time, but could not find. { .lead}

Page contents...

A summary of what we know about how mothers with PTSD affect their children
- The basic model ^
What the research says ^
References ^
Notes ^

A summary of what we know about how mothers with PTSD affect their children

(To stay focused on the main elements of this discussion, various technical considerations have been placed in the notes at the foot of this article. Access these notes to get a fuller discussion of what follows.)

The basic model ^{^}

That children respond in a wide variety of ways to their environment is not news. Often not considered, however, are two additional critical factors: their mother is their most important environment, prenatally, and usually after birth as well, and children themselves vary widely in how they react to just about anything.

So, consider now the picture this presents:

We have two crucial environments: the prenatal and the post-natal.
We have mothers, whose temperament (genetics) and personal history both determine her present character.
Then, we have a baby, affected by its genetics, quite possibly by its prenatal environment, and surely by its post-natal environment.
And, all of these variables interact across time!

The question we take up here is to what degree, if any, a mother's having posttraumatic stress could affect a baby, in either of its two developmental environments.

To clarify and isolate the relationships of these factors, and to bring them all together into a cohesive whole, here is a chart specifying the system elements and relationships.²

What the research says ^{^}

References ^{^}

Notes ^{^}

"Panic attacks" are to be distinguished from panic disorders, which involve a cluster of symptoms that include panic attacks. Panic attacks are a brief, rapic-onset period of fear or anxiety which typically last a few minutes but can last longer. They can occur in the context of PTSD. ↩
The system portrayed is incomplete, as other non-specified factors are also involved. But, for purposes of this conceptualization these other factors are considered to be non-variant - i.e., constants. When working with actual research data, it is possible to achieve this through the design of the research (which may eliminate some of these factors) or through statistical manipulations (which isolate their influence, then remove it mathematically from the system). ↩
Apparently, she did not get treatment for her PTSD (at that time, in the late 20th century, many people thought it was a permanent condition). Validated treatments such as EMDR were not well known, even among professional psychologists. ↩

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