Ladies in waiting: a group intervention for families coping with deployed soldiers

It is widely recognized that military service during wartime can take a toll on a soldier's psychological health. Recent work has revealed effects on the families left behind as well, as reflected, for example, in an increase in child abuse and neglect in these families. My interest in studying the transgenerational transmission of trauma led me to offer the National Guard a pro bono group therapy for women whose husbands had been deployed overseas. A slightly unorthodox approach paved the way not only to group treatment but, ultimately, individual treatment for these women and their children. My hope is that this work can serve as a model for other therapists who share my interest in treating the intergenerational transmission of trauma by implementing group and mother-child psychotherapy.