Bessel van der Kolk (Leiden, 1943) is probably the most influential voice in contemporary trauma psychiatry. Director of the Trauma Research Foundation in Boston, and a professor at Boston University, he has dedicated over forty years to the neurobiological study of trauma and its treatment.
His book The Body Keeps the Score (2014) integrates research in neuroscience, psychopharmacology, somatic therapy, EMDR, yoga, neurofeedback, and relational approaches. Its central thesis: trauma is inscribed in the body and nervous system, and purely verbal approaches are rarely sufficient.
Although van der Kolk does not come from the systemic field, his work is an essential reference for understanding why physical movements in a Family Constellation—bowing, symbolically embracing, returning a burden—operate where words alone cannot reach. Constelando integrates his neurobiological framework alongside the systemic one.
Bibliography
- The Body Keeps the Score — Bessel van der Kolk. Eleftheria, 2015.
These books are in the reference library that nourishes Constelando el Origen.
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Related terms
Transgenerational trauma
Pain or trauma unprocessed by one generation that is transmitted—psychically, somatically, and, according to recent evidence, epigenetically—to subsequent generations.
See entryInterrupted bonding
An early break in the bond between a child and their primary attachment figure—usually the mother—that leaves a profound systemic imprint.
See entrySystemic movement
An internal action or physical gesture that reorders the image of the system during the constellation and releases the blocked dynamic.
See entryA session that nameswhat hurts
If you recognize this dynamic in your own story, a Family Constellation can reveal where it comes from and what movement can bring order to it. Daniela respectfully accompanies each case.
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