ABSTRACT
Today’s warfare and political persecution very often aim not only at combatants and political activists but usually include spouses and children as targets of repression, violation of human rights, and as victims. Destroying the enemy’s future by destroying the hope that rests on children and through violating spouses has been a central aim in many historical or present-day conflicts. In this chapter we — two family therapists who have worked with refugee families in exile — want to point out the effects of political trauma on the family, to describe the interactive and intergenerational effects of man-made stresses through persecution and war, and examine the role of family in surviving, coping, or even making positive use of the experiences they lived through. The positive effects of individual trauma-related psychotherapy can be of help to families as well, but we would here summarize our knowledge on the often complex interactive processes of coping with, communicating about, or dealing with cumulative stress that often requires a family-centered approach.
