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Bessel van der Kolk

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Bessel van der Kolk
Van der Kolk (2022)
Born1943 (age 81–82)
The Hague, Netherlands
Alma materUniversity of Chicago (1970)
University of Hawaii (1965)
Known forPost-traumatic stress disorder research
Scientific career
InstitutionsBoston University School of Medicine
Boston State Hospital
Websitewww.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 four books, including The New York Times best seller, The Body Keeps the Score.[1]

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.[2]

Early life and education

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Van der Kolk was born in the Netherlands in 1943.[3]

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.[4]

Career

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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[3] 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[3] and conducted the first studies on the use of fluoxetine and sertraline in the treatment of PTSD.

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.[3] Since then, he has conducted numerous training programs and clinical trials.[5] Van der Kolk has performed extensive studies on the nature of traumatic memory[6] and took a leading role in the first studies on the psychopharmacological treatments of PTSD.[7] He conducted some of the earliest studies on the biological substrates of PTSD[8] and on stress-induced analgesia.[9] Involved in the first neuroimaging studies of PTSD[10] and dissociative identity disorder,[11] van der Kolk received the first grants from the National Institutes of Health to study EMDR[12] and yoga.[13]

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.[14] In that context he and his colleagues studied more than 20,000 traumatized children and adolescents to formulate Developmental Trauma Disorder, a new trauma disorder 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.[15]

In January 2018, the Trauma Center's parent organization, the Justice Resource Institute, fired van der Kolk from the center over allegations that he had mistreated employees.[16] Van der Kolk said he was not aware of any specific allegations and denied that he had mistreated employees.[16] Van der Kolk filed a lawsuit against the Justice Resource Institute and its leadership for several counts of action, including breach of contract, misrepresentation, and defamation.[17]

Van der Kolk was named in Time's 2024 list of influential people in health.[18]

Writings and views

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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.[19]

Van der Kolk's book, The Body Keeps the Score, was published in 2014. It 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).[20]

The book was well received in As of July 2023, The Body Keeps the Score had spent more than 245 weeks on The New York Times best seller list.[21] By October 2023, it had spent 153 weeks (nearly three years) in the United States on Amazon’s bestseller list.[22] It has been translated into 43 languages.[23] However, some scientists have criticized the book for promoting pseudoscientific claims.[24][25]

Martin Kristen of The Washington Post criticized Van der Kolk for promoting "uncertain science", such as mirror neurons, the polyvagal theory, and the triune brain model.[26] Similarly, Peter Barglow, writing for the Skeptical Inquirer, criticized him for endorsing controversial treatments, including EMDR and emotional freedom technique.[27]

Personal life

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As of 2024, van der Kolk was married, living in rural Massachusetts and still seeing patients.[28]

Works

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  • Van der Kolk, B. A., ed. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: Psychological and Biological Sequelae. Washington DC: American Psychiatric, 1984.
  • Van der Kolk, B. A., Psychological Trauma. Washington DC: American Psychiatric, 1987.
  • Van der Kolk, B. A., McFarlane, Alexander C., Weisæth, L. (eds). Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body and Society. New York: Guilford, 1996.
  • Van der Kolk, B. A. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking, 2014. ISBN 9780670785933.

References

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  1. ^ Revanche, Jonno (September 14, 2017). "Photography saved me. Staring down a lens, I re-ordered painful memories". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on September 15, 2024. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
  2. ^ "Meet Our Board". Trauma Research Foundation. Archived from the original on February 25, 2020. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d 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.
  4. ^ "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.
  5. ^ "Training and Education Program". Trauma Center. Archived from the original on September 30, 2023. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ "Who We Are". nctsn.org. Retrieved June 23, 2019.[permanent dead link‍]
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ a b Kowalczyk, Liz (2018-03-07). "Allegations of employee mistreatment roil renowned Brookline trauma center - The Boston Globe". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 2023-09-30. Retrieved 24 January 2025. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, a best-selling author on trauma whose research has attracted a worldwide following, has been fired from his job over allegations that he bullied and denigrated employees at his renowned Trauma Center... Van der Kolk was removed as medical director of the Brookline center in January, according to several accounts, although his photo and job description remained prominently on its website until early this week, when the Globe requested information... Van der Kolk, in a phone interview, denied that he had mistreated employees and said he was not aware of any specific allegations.
  17. ^ "Famed trauma therapist responds to allegations of bullying: 'It's an outrageous story'". 13 March 2018. Archived from the original on 2024-07-18. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  18. ^ "TIME100 Health". TIME. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ 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.
  21. ^ 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.
  22. ^ "Most Sold Nonfiction | Amazon Charts". Amazon. October 30, 2023. Archived from the original on 2023-10-30.
  23. ^ "The Body Keeps The Score". Bessel van der Kolk, MD. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  24. ^ McNally, Richard J (November 2005). "Debunking Myths about Trauma and Memory". The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 50 (13): 817–822. doi:10.1177/070674370505001302. ISSN 0706-7437.
  25. ^ Cox, Keith S.; Codd, R. Trent (2023). "Advocates of Research-Supported Treatments for PTSD are Losing in Lots of Ways: What Are We Going to Do About It?". Research on Social Work Practice. 34 (4): 347–359. doi:10.1177/10497315231206754. ISSN 1049-7315.
  26. ^ Martin, Kristen (2023-08-06). "'The Body Keeps the Score' offers uncertain science in the name of self-help. It's not alone". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-06-07.
  27. ^ Barglow, Peter (September–October 2024). "Trauma Here, Trauma There, Trauma, Trauma Everywhere!". Skeptical Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2024-08-23. Retrieved 2025-01-05.
  28. ^ Ross, India (28 June 2024). "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.

Further reading

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