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Revision as of 13:58, 26 September 2011

Trauma Center at JRI Shortly following the addition of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to the Third Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1980 (DSM-V), the Trauma Center was founded in 1981 by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk as the first outpatient specialty mental health center dedicated to the study and treatment of PTSD and related conditions. In April, 2005, The Trauma Center became a program of Justice Resource Institute, a large New England-based 501 (c)3 non-profit organization with a commitment to social justice in delivery of mental health services to disadvantaged, under-served and severely impacted youth and adults. The mission of the Trauma Center is to "help individuals, families and communities that have been impacted by trauma and adversity to re-establish a sense of safety and predictability in the world, and to provide them with state-of-the-art therapeutic care as they reclaim, rebuild and renew their lives."

The Trauma Center offers clinical services, comprehensive training for post-graduate mental health professionals, and an active research program. The Center also provides extensive local and national consultation to mental health clinics, social service provider agencies, schools, child welfare organizations, law enforcement, court personnel and child protective agencies on topics including establishment of trauma-informed systems of care; impact of trauma exposure on individuals, families, communities, providers and systems; clinical conceptualization and diagnostic formulation; and assessment and treatment of complex adaptations to chronic maltreatment and neglect in children and adults. For 22 years, the Trauma Center has hosted an annual International Trauma Conference in the Boston area that combines the latest neuroscience research with cutting edge treatment models; with over 500 participants each year, this conference is consistently one of the highest attended psychological trauma conferences in the United States.

The Trauma Center is located in Brookline, MA, with an associated clinic in Acton, MA.

Leadership

  • Executive Director: Joseph Spinazzola, Ph.D. Vice President, Behavioral Health & Trauma Services, JRI.
  • Medical & Research Director: Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. Editor of Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, and Society. Guilford Press. Senior Vice President for Research, JRI.
  • Director of Training & Education: Margaret Blaustein, Ph.D. Co-author with Kristine Kinniburgh of Treating Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents: How to Foster Resilience through Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency. Guilford Press.
  • Director of Clinical Services: Marla Zucker, Ph.D. Director, Metrowest Behavioral Health Center, JRI.

Notable Trauma Center Faculty & Staff

Active

  • Janina Fisher, Ph.D., Past President of the New England Society for the Treatment of Trauma and Dissociation. Senior Trainer, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute.
  • Frances Grossman, Ph.D., author of With the Phoenix Rising: Lessons from Ten Resilient Women who Overcame the Trauma of Child Sexual Abuse. Jossey-Bass.
  • Lisa Machoian, author of The Disappearing Girl: Learning the Language of Teenage Depression. Plume.
  • David Emerson, E-RYT, Director of Yoga Services at the Trauma Center, & Elizabeth Hopper, Ph.D., Director of Project Reach, Anti-Human Trafficking Program at the Trauma Center; co-authors of Overcoming Trauma through Yoga: Reclaiming Your Body. North Atlantic Books.


Alumni

  • Victoria Banyard, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire. Editor of Trauma and Physical Health: Understanding the Effects of Extreme Stress and of Psychological Harm.
  • Ruth Lanius, M.D., Ph.D., Harris-Woodman Chair in Psyche and Soma, Department of Psychiatry, London Health Sciences Center, Ontario. Editor of The Impact of Early Life Trauma on Health and Disease: The Hidden Epidemic. Cambridge University Press.
  • Glenn Saxe, M.D., Chair and Clinical Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Director of the NYU Child Study Center. Author of Collaborative Treatment of Traumatized Children and Teens: The Trauma Systems Therapy Approach. Guilford Press.

Program of Research

Since its inception, the Trauma Center has engaged in clinical research dedicated to advancing the field of traumatic stress in regard to understanding and treatment of disorders and conditions associated with exposure to interpersonal trauma and neglect. The Center is regarded by many as an important independent voice of scientific integrity and innovation in the field of traumatic stress. Early research at the Trauma Center was focused on topics including the characterization of personality features of traumatized individuals; identification of neurophysiological impact of trauma exposure, including the phenomenology of traumatic memories; and evaluation of emerging psychological and pharmaceutical treatment options for traumatized adults.

Noteworthy accomplishments of the Trauma Center's research program include seminal research on the psychobiology of trauma[1][2], the nature of traumatic memories[3], and the childhood origins of self-destructive behavior [4]; the first randomized controlled trial examining use of a pharmacotherapy (fluoxetine) in the treatment of PTSD[5]; diagnostic formulation of complex adaptation to chronic interpersonal trauma in adults [6] and children [7]; development of psychological assessment measures and treatment strategies for adults with complex PTSD [8]; the first randomized controlled trial comparing a psychotherapy to a pharmacotherapy in the treatment of PTSD[9]; the first research studies examining the application of improvisational theater in youth violence prevention with high-risk urban youth[10][11] and a resulting public-access manual for middle school teachers to incorporate improv-based youth violence prevention strategies into their routine classroom activities [12]; and the first outcome trial to explore the use of sensory integration techniques in treatment of complex PTSD [13].

The Trauma Center has also conducted a comprehensive review of PTSD treatment outcome studies exposing that exposed the frequent limitations of findings from this research to generalize to the more complex problems and treatment needs of typical clients encountered in real-life clinical practice settings [14]. This line of inquiry has led Center leadership to publicly challenge the adequacy of conventional talk-based therapies to achieve adequate resolution of clinical symptoms and associated life functioning impairments in many adults with chronic and complex PTSD[15].

Over the past several years, the Trauma Center's research program has been driven by two primary objectives:

  • To delineate the various mechanisms and pathways involved between exposure to chronic trauma, neglect and deprivation and manifestation across development of complex survival-based patterns of accommodation that pose significant risks for long-term brain development, and the capacities for self-regulation, navigation of effective social-relationships, self-appraisal, goal-directed behaviors and the ability to engage in present-oriented, joyful experience.
  • To identify, develop, evaluate, adapt and disseminate approaches to trauma recovery that integrate mindful self-awareness, trauma processing, and restoration of healthy action patterns in individuals who have come to live in chronically out of control or frozen bodies.


Current Research Initiatives

The Trauma Center's research team is currently spearheading efforts to conduct a national field trial to validate the proposed Developmental Trauma Disorder [16]construct as the first formal Complex_post-traumatic_stress_disorder diagnosis for inclusion in the forthcoming 5th Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V).

Other current projects include a randomized controlled trial of trauma-informed yoga for adult women with histories of chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD associated with exposure to childhood interpersonal trauma, and two open trials of neurofeedback as a mechanism of affect regulation for traumatized individuals, one studying adults with chronic PTSD and a second examining applications of neurofeedback with adolescents receiving residential treatment for severe emotional and behavioral problems.

National Affiliations

  • National Youth Violence Prevention Consortium member site, Hamilton Fish Institute, George Washington University, 2001-2008
  • Category III Community Treatment & Services Practice Site, National Child Traumatic Stress Network, 2001-2009
  • Complex Trauma Treatment Network, Category II National Training & Technical Assistance Center, National Child Traumatic Stress Network, 2009-2012

Publications

Led by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, the Trauma Center is responsible for production of well over 100 peer-reviewed clinical and research articles in scholary journals. Direct download of many of the Trauma Center's publications are available through the Center's website, along with instructions to obtain various intervention manuals and clinical assessment tools developed by the Center.

Of particular note, the Trauma Center faculty played a lead role in developed of an important White Paper on Complex Trauma in Children and Adolescents developed in partnership with over twenty child trauma experts across a dozen National Child Traumatic Stress Network member sites[17]. An abridged version of this paper was subsequently published in a peer-review journal[18] and was accompanied by data from a national survey on the prevalence and clinical characteristics of children exposed to serial or repeated interpersonal victimization [19].

In April 2011, Random House released and distributed the first book co-published by North Atlantic Books and the Trauma Center at JRI, entitled Overcoming Trauma through Yoga: Reclaiming Your Body. Co-authored by David Emerson, Director of Yoga Programming, and Dr. Elizabeth Hopper, Senior Staff Clinician and Clinical Supervisor, this book was written as a resource for survivors, clinicians and yoga instructors.[20] It describes and illustrates the trauma-informed yoga model developed by the Trauma Center following five years of intense research and practice with adult and adolescent clients. This book has received initial critical and financial success, including a highly favorable review in the New York Journal of Books.[21] In its first month of release, this book consistently ranked in the top 3,000 books on Amazon, and frequently held the #1 ranking among books on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, a top ten ranking among books on yoga, and a top 30 ranking among books on the Alternative Medicine book list.[22]

References

  1. ^ van der Kolk B., Greenberg M., Boyd H., & Krystal, J. (1985). Inescapable shock, neurotransmitters, and addiction to trauma: Toward a psychobiology of post traumatic stress. Biol Psychiatry, 20: 314-325.
  2. ^ http://www.traumacenter.org/products/Neural_correlates.pdf. Retrieved 2011-2-15.
  3. ^ http://www.traumacenter.org/products/pdf_files/nature_of_trauma_memory_2001.pdf. Retrieved 2011-2-15.
  4. ^ van der Kolk B.,Perry J., & Herman J. (1991). Childhood origins of self- destructive behavior. American Journal of Psychiatry 148: 1665-1671.
  5. ^ van der Kolk B., Dreyfuss D., Berkowitz R., Saxe G., Shera, D. & Michaels, M. (1994). Fluoxetine in Post Traumatic Stress. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 517-522.
  6. ^ http://www.traumacenter.org/products/pdf_files/SpecialIssueComplexTraumaOct2006JTS3.pdf. Retrieved 2011-2-15
  7. ^ http://www.traumacenter.org/products/JTS_Oct_09_Cloitre_et_al.pdf. Retrieved 2011-2-15.
  8. ^ http://www.traumacenter.org/products/pdf_files/DESNOS.pdf. Retrieved 2011-2-15
  9. ^ http://www.traumacenter.org/products/pdf_files/van_der_Kolk_JCLINFINAL.pdf. Retrieved 2011-2-15.
  10. ^ http://www.traumacenter.org/products/pdf_files/JSV5_2_2006.pdf. Retrieved 2011-2-15
  11. ^ http://www.traumacenter.org/products/Getting_Teachers_in_on_the_Act.pdf
  12. ^ http://www.traumacenter.org/products/pdf_files/UITeacherStand-Alone.pdf. Retrieved 2011-2-15.
  13. ^ http://www.traumacenter.org/products/SI%20Txt%20for%20Adult%20Complex%20PTSD%20article-Spinazzola.pdf. Retrieved 2011-2-15.
  14. ^ http://www.traumacenter.org/products/pdf_files/SpecialIssueComplexTraumaOct2006JTS1.pdf. Retrieved 2011-2-15.
  15. ^ http://www.traumacenter.org/products/pdf_files/Networker.pdf. Retrieved 2011-2-15.
  16. ^ http://www.traumacenter.org/products/Developmental_Trauma_Disorder.pdf. Retrieved 2011-2-15.
  17. ^ http://www.traumacenter.org/initiatives/pdf_files/ComplexTrauma_All.pdf. Retrieved 2011-2-15.
  18. ^ http://www.traumacenter.org/products/Complex%20Trauma%20White%20Paper.pdf. Retrieved 2011-2-15.
  19. ^ http://www.traumacenter.org/products/pdf_files/National%20Complex%20Trauma%20Survey.pdf. Retrieved 2011-2-15.
  20. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhEDp0b8Uws. Retrieved 2011-4-23.
  21. ^ http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/review/overcoming-trauma-through-yoga-reclaiming-your-body. Retrieved 2011-4-23.
  22. ^ http://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Trauma-through-Yoga-Reclaiming/dp/1556439695/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1303581273&sr=8-1. Retrieved 2011-4-23.
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