# Bessel van der Kolk

Dutch-American psychiatrist and trauma researcher who pioneered neurobiological approaches to post-traumatic stress and complex developmental trauma.

**Lived:** 1943–present (b. The Netherlands)
**Nationality:** Dutch-American
**Training:** M.D. Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago (1970); psychiatric residency Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Harvard Medical School (1974)
**Affiliation:** Boston University School of Medicine; Trauma Research Foundation; International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies

## Key works

- *Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: Psychological and Biological Sequelae* (1984)
- *Psychological Trauma* (1987)
- *Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body and Society* (1996)
- *The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma* (2014)