Bessel van der Kolk

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Bessel van der Kolk
Born1943 (age 80–81)
The Hague, Netherlands
Alma mater University of Chicago (1970)
University of Hawaii (1965)
Known for Post-traumatic stress disorder research
Scientific career
Institutions Boston University School of Medicine
Boston State Hospital
Website www.besselvanderkolk.com

Bessel van der Kolk (born 1943) is a Dutch psychiatrist, author, researcher and educator. Since the 1970s his research has been in the area of post-traumatic stress. He is the author of The New York Times best seller, The Body Keeps the Score .

Contents

Van der Kolk formerly served as president of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and is a former co-director of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. He is a professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine and president of the Trauma Research Foundation in Brookline, Massachusetts. [1]

Van der Kolk has published more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific articles [2] and four books. [3]

Early life and education

Van der Kolk was born in the Netherlands in 1943. [4] He studied a pre-medical curriculum with a political science major at the University of Hawaii in 1965. He gained his M.D. at the Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, in 1970, and completed his psychiatric residency at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Harvard Medical School, in 1974. [5]

After his training, van der Kolk worked as a director of Boston State Hospital. He became a staff psychiatrist at the Boston Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic. Van der Kolk developed an interest in studying traumatic stress in 1978 while working with Vietnam war veterans suffering from PTSD [4] and serving on the Harvard Medical School faculty. He was a member of the PTSD committee of the 1980 and 1994 editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders., [4] and conducted the first studies on the use of fluoxetine and sertraline in the treatment of PTSD.

Career

In 1982, van der Kolk started the Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts while he was working as a junior faculty member at Harvard Medical School. [4] Since then, he has conducted numerous training programs and clinical trials. [6] Van der Kolk has performed extensive studies on the nature of traumatic memory, [7] and took a leading role in the first studies on the psychopharmacological treatments of PTSD. [8] He conducted some of the earliest studies on the biological substrates of PTSD [9] and on stress-induced analgesia. [10] Involved in the first neuroimaging studies of PTSD [11] and Dissociative Identity Disorder, [12] van der Kolk received the first grants from the National Institutes of Health to study EMDR [13] and yoga. [14]

In 1999, van der Kolk initiated the creation of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. By 2019, it had grown to a network of 150 sites specializing in treating traumatized children and their families around the US. [15] In that context he and his colleagues studied more than 20,000 traumatized children and adolescents to formulate Developmental Trauma Disorder, which has not yet been accepted within the DSM. He has systematically studied innovative treatments for traumatic stress in children and adults, such as trauma-sensitive yoga, theater, embodied therapies, neurofeedback, and psychedelic therapies. [16]

Since 1989, he has been course director of the annual Boston International Trauma Conference, which brings together leading scientists and clinicians specializing in trauma, developmental psychopathology, attachment studies, body-oriented therapies, theater and expressive arts. [17]

In 2018, van der Kolk was removed from his position within the Trauma Center for alleged misconduct, according to JRI president Andy Pond. [18] Van der Kolk filed a lawsuit against Pond and the Trauma Center's parent organization, the Justice Resource Institute for several counts of action including breach of contract, misrepresentation, and defamation. [19] Most senior staff members of the Trauma Center resigned in solidarity with van der Kolk and the Trauma Center subsequently closed in late 2018. Van der Kolk used the funds won in his legal settlement to found the nonprofit Trauma Research Foundation where he is currently a board member [20] [21]

Van der Kolk was named in Time 2024 list of influential people in health. [22]

Writings and views

Van der Kolk has a particular interest in developmental psychopathology and the study of how trauma has a differential effect, depending on developmental stage and the security of the attachment system. [23]

Van der Kolk's book, The Body Keeps the Score, was published in 2014. As of July 2023, The Body Keeps the Score had spent more than 245 weeks on The New York Times best seller list. [24] By October 2023, it had spent 153 weeks (nearly three years) in the United States on Amazon’s bestseller list. [25] It has been translated into 43 languages. The Body Keeps the Score focuses on the central role of the attachment system and social environment to protect against developing trauma related disorders and explores a large variety of interventions to recover from the impact of traumatic experiences. Van der Kolk coined the term "Developmental Trauma Disorder" for the complex range of psychological and biological reactions to trauma over the course of human development, also known as complex post traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). [26]

Personal life

As of 2024, van der Kolk was married, living in rural Massachusetts and still seeing patients. [27]

Works

Related Research Articles

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a person's life or well-being. Symptoms may include disturbing thoughts, feelings, or dreams related to the events, mental or physical distress to trauma-related cues, attempts to avoid trauma-related cues, alterations in the way a person thinks and feels, and an increase in the fight-or-flight response. These symptoms last for more than a month after the event and can include triggers such as misophonia. Young children are less likely to show distress, but instead may express their memories through play. A person with PTSD is at a higher risk of suicide and intentional self-harm.

Dissociation is a concept that has been developed over time and which concerns a wide array of experiences, ranging from a mild emotional detachment from the immediate surroundings, to a more severe disconnection from physical and emotional experiences. The major characteristic of all dissociative phenomena involves a detachment from reality, rather than a false perception of reality as in psychosis.

Psychological trauma is an emotional response caused by severe distressing events, such as bodily injury, sexual violence, or other threats to the life of the subject or their loved ones; indirect exposure, such as from watching television news, may be extremely distressing and can produce an involuntary and possibly overwhelming physiological stress response, but does not produce trauma per se. Examples of distressing events include violence, rape, or a terrorist attack.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a form of psychotherapy that is a recommended treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but remains controversial within the psychological community. It was devised by Francine Shapiro in 1987 and originally designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories such as PTSD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Complex post-traumatic stress disorder</span> Psychological disorder

Complex post-traumatic stress disorder is a stress-related mental and behavioral disorder generally occurring in response to complex traumas.

Francine Shapiro was an American psychologist and educator who originated and developed eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), a form of psychotherapy for resolving the symptoms of traumatic and other disturbing life experiences.

Somatic psychology or, more precisely, "somatic clinical psychotherapy" is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on somatic experience, including therapeutic and holistic approaches to the body. It seeks to explore and heal mental and physical injury and trauma through body awareness and movement. Wilhelm Reich was first to try to develop a clear psychodynamic approach that included the body.

Childhood trauma is often described as serious adverse childhood experiences. Children may go through a range of experiences that classify as psychological trauma; these might include neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and physical abuse. They may also witness abuse of a sibling or parent, or have a mentally ill parent. These events can have profound psychological, physiological, and sociological impacts leading to lasting negative effects on health and well-being. These events may include antisocial behaviors, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and sleep disturbances. Additionally, children whose mothers have experienced traumatic or stressful events during pregnancy have an increased risk of mental health disorders and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

A trauma trigger is a psychological stimulus that prompts involuntary recall of a previous traumatic experience. The stimulus itself need not be frightening or traumatic and may be only indirectly or superficially reminiscent of an earlier traumatic incident, such as a scent or a piece of clothing. Triggers can be subtle, individual, and difficult for others to predict. A trauma trigger may also be called a trauma stimulus, a trauma stressor or a trauma reminder.

Memory and trauma is the deleterious effects that physical or psychological trauma has on memory.

William Ivory "Ivor" Browne was an Irish psychiatrist and author who was Chief Psychiatrist of the Eastern Health Board, and professor emeritus of psychiatry at University College Dublin. He was best known for his theory of trauma as being at the root cause of many psychiatric diagnoses, as well as his early therapeutic use of psychedelics. He was also known for his opposition to traditional psychiatry, and his scepticism about psychiatric drugs. Browne died on 24 January 2024, at the age of 94.

The management of traumatic memories is important when treating mental health disorders such as post traumatic stress disorder. Traumatic memories can cause life problems even to individuals who do not meet the diagnostic criteria for a mental health disorder. They result from traumatic experiences, including natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis; violent events such as kidnapping, terrorist attacks, war, domestic abuse and rape. Traumatic memories are naturally stressful in nature and emotionally overwhelm people's existing coping mechanisms.

PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder, is a psychiatric disorder characterised by intrusive thoughts and memories, dreams or flashbacks of the event; avoidance of people, places and activities that remind the individual of the event; ongoing negative beliefs about oneself or the world, mood changes and persistent feelings of anger, guilt or fear; alterations in arousal such as increased irritability, angry outbursts, being hypervigilant, or having difficulty with concentration and sleep.

Neurological reparative therapy (NRT) is a new model of treatment synthesized from a compilation of literature and research on how to better the lives of individuals who have a wide range of mental, emotional, and behavioral disturbances – particularly children and adolescents. Although the term "neurological reparative therapy" is new, the foundation of this model is not.

Childbirth-related post-traumatic stress disorder is a psychological disorder that can develop in women who have recently given birth. This disorder can also affect men or partners who have observed a difficult birth. Its symptoms are not distinct from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It may also be called post-traumatic stress disorder following childbirth (PTSD-FC).

Fragmentation of types and aspects of memory can be understood as a memory disorder that includes subjective and phenomenonological facets directly impacting the ability of an individual to recall memories in an integrated and holistic way. A person has difficulty in associating the context of the memories to their autobiographical (episodic) memory. While the explicit facts and details of the events may be known to the person, the facts of the events retrieve none of the affective and somatic elements of the experience. Therefore, the emotional and personal content of the memories can't be associated with the rest of the memory. Fragmentation of memory can occur for relatively recent events as well.

Psychotraumatology is the study of psychological trauma. Specifically, this discipline is involved with researching, preventing, and treating traumatic situations and people's reactions to them. It focuses on the study and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and acute stress disorder (ASD), but encompasses any adverse reaction after experiencing traumatic events, including dissociative disorders. Since 2021, Certified Trauma Professionals who have achieved a major level of training and clinical expertise can use the abbreviation PsyT after their names as a standard of recognition in the trauma field.

Trauma-sensitive yoga is yoga as exercise, adapted from 2002 onwards for work with individuals affected by psychological trauma. Its goal is to help trauma survivors to develop a greater sense of mind-body connection, to ease their physiological experiences of trauma, to gain a greater sense of ownership over their bodies, and to augment their overall well-being. However, a 2019 systematic review found that the studies to date were not sufficiently robustly designed to provide strong evidence of yoga's effectiveness as a therapy; it called for further research.

<i>The Body Keeps the Score</i> 2014 book by Bessel van der Kolk

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma is a 2014 book by Bessel van der Kolk about the purported effects of psychological trauma. The book describes van der Kolk's research and experiences on how people are affected by traumatic stress, including its effects on the mind and body.

Psychological trauma in adultswho are older, is the overall prevalence and occurrence of trauma symptoms within the older adult population.. This should not be confused with geriatric trauma. Although there is a 90% likelihood of an older adult experiencing a traumatic event, there is a lack of research on trauma in older adult populations. This makes research trends on the complex interaction between traumatic symptom presentation and considerations specifically related to the older adult population difficult to pinpoint. This article reviews the existing literature and briefly introduces various ways, apart from the occurrence of elder abuse, that psychological trauma impacts the older adult population.

References

  1. ↑ "Meet Our Board". Trauma Research Foundation. Archived from the original on February 25, 2020. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  2. ↑ "Information and Products by Faculty: Bessel van der Kolk". PESI Inc. Archived from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  3. ↑ Revanche, Jonno (September 14, 2017). "Photography saved me. Staring down a lens, I re-ordered painful memories". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved March 14, 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Williams, Zoe (September 20, 2021). "Trauma, trust and triumph: psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk on how to recover from our deepest pain". The Guardian. Archived from the original on September 20, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  5. ↑ "Curriculum Vitae of Bessel van der Kolk M.D." Bessel Van Der Kolk. Archived from the original on July 10, 2019. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  6. ↑ "Training and Education Program". Trauma Center. Archived from the original on September 30, 2023. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  7. ↑ van der Kolk, BA; van der Hart, O (1989). "Pierre Janet and the breakdown of adaptation in Psychological Trauma". Am J Psychiatry. 146: 1330–1342.
  8. ↑ van der Kolk, BA; Dreyfuss, D; Berkowitz, R; Saxe, G; Shera, D; Michaels, M (1994). "Fluoxetine in Post Traumatic Stress". J Clin Psychiatry: 517–522.
  9. ↑ van der Kolk, BA; Greenberg, M; Boyd, H; Krystal, J (1985). "Inescapable shock, neurotransmitters, and addiction to trauma: toward a psychobiology of post traumatic stress". Biol Psychiatry. 20 (3): 314–325. doi:10.1016/0006-3223(85)90061-7. PMID   2858226. S2CID   34436511.
  10. ↑ van der Kolk, BA; Greenberg, MS; Orr, S; Pittman, RK (1989). "Pain Perception and endogenous opioids in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder". Psychopharm Bull. 25: 117–121.
  11. ↑ Rauch, S; van der Kolk, BA; Fisler, R; Alpert, N; Orr, S; Savage, C; Jenike, M; Pitman, R (1996). "A symptom provocation study using Positron Emission Tomography and Script Driven Imagery". Arch Gen Psychiatry. 53 (5): 380–387. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1996.01830050014003. PMID   8624181.
  12. ↑ Saxe, GN; Vasile, RG; Hill, TC; Bloomingdale, K; van der Kolk, BA (1992). "Temporal lobe changes in Multiple Personality Disorders demonstrated by rCBF and SPECT imaging". J Ment Nerv Dis. 180 (10): 662–663. doi:10.1097/00005053-199210000-00009. PMID   1402846.
  13. ↑ Levin, P; Lazrove, S; van der Kolk, BA (1999). "What psychological testing and neuroimaging tell us about the treatment of PTSD by EMDR". J Anxiety Disord. 13 (1–2): 159–172. doi: 10.1016/S0887-6185(98)00045-0 . PMID   10225506.
  14. ↑ van der Kolk, BA; Stone, L; West, J; Rhodes, A; Emerson, D; Spinazzola, J (2014). "Yoga as an adjunctive treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder: a randomized controlled trial". J Clin Psychiatry. 75 (6): 559–565.
  15. ↑ "Who We Are". nctsn.org. Retrieved June 23, 2019.[ permanent dead link ]
  16. ↑ Interlandi, Jeneen (May 22, 2014). "A Revolutionary Approach to Treating PTSD". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019. Retrieved March 14, 2019– via NYTimes.com.
  17. ↑ "Trauma Research Foundation 'Our Mission'". Trauma Research Foundation. Retrieved June 22, 2019.[ permanent dead link ]
  18. ↑ Kowalczyk, Liz (March 7, 2018). "Allegations of employee mistreatment roil renowned Brookline trauma center". The Boston Globe . Archived from the original on September 30, 2023. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
  19. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2024-07-18. Retrieved 2024-07-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  20. ↑ "Behind The Globe". Bessel van der Kolk. Archived from the original on April 8, 2020. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  21. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2024-06-01. Retrieved 2024-07-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  22. ↑ "TIME100 Health". TIME. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  23. ↑ van der Kolk, BA; Pelcovitz, D; Roth, S; Mandel, F; McFarlane, AC; Herman, J (1996). "Dissociation, somatization and affect dysregulation: the complexity of adaptation to trauma". Am J Psychiatry. 153 (7 Suppl): 83–93. doi:10.1176/ajp.153.7.83. PMID   8659645.
  24. ↑ Blum, Dani (September 19, 2022). "'One Foot in the Present, One Foot in the Past:' Understanding E.M.D.R." The New York Times. Videos by Sophie Park. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  25. ↑ "Most Sold Nonfiction | Amazon Charts". Amazon. October 30, 2023. Archived from the original on 2023-10-30.
  26. ↑ Treleaven, Sarah (January 30, 2020). "What Developmental Trauma Disorder Looks Like in Kids". Today's Parent. Archived from the original on June 22, 2020. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  27. ↑ "Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk: 'When trauma becomes your identity, that's a dangerous thing'". www.ft.com. Archived from the original on 2024-06-29. Retrieved 2024-06-29.

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