The impact of genocide, war and violence on human genetics and behavior will be discussed at the international neuroscience symposium that will be held in Yerevan in September 2013. This will be the first such scientific meeting on this topic.

The general topic of the meeting is “Stress and Related Behavioral Disorders,” but it will focus more on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and it will have a special session on “PTSD Effects on Genetics (The Impact of Genocide, War and Violence on Genetics and Behavior).”

PTSD is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one’s own or someone else’s physical, sexual, or psychological integrity, overwhelming the individual’s ability to cope. Recent studies have shown that individual’s overall vulnerability to developing PTSD depends on genetic factors and moreover, stress and tragic events may cause mutations in a stress-related genes to increase the risk of PTSD, especially for children. This means, that genocides and wars affect the lives of not only the people who were directly involved, but also of their subsequent generations.

The symposium, which will be held on September 20 and 21, 2013 in Orbeli Institute of Physiology in Yerevan, is organized by the International Stress and Behavior Society (ISBS), Metris B.V. (Netherlands), and Orbeli Institute of Physiology. The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute likewise will support this meeting.