multigenerational transmission
the passing on of psychological problems, primarily anxiety, over several generations through family relationships. A central concept in family systems theory, the principal process involves the nonconscious passing on of a higher level of anxiety, which overrides adaptive thinking and behavior, to members in each succeeding generation. Interventions to change this transmission involve charting family relationships and coaching individuals on how to interact with targeted relatives, usually those who are lowest in anxiety and who function at the most adaptive level. [developed by U.S. psychiatrist Murray Bowen (1913–1990)]