Trauma e psicoterapia: un approccio integrato tra trasmissione transgenerazionale, terapia della Gestalt, Modello delle Parti e Internal Family Systems
Pubblicato 26.06.2026
Parole chiave
- Trauma transgenerazionale, Epigenetica, Modello delle parti, Internal Family Systems, Terapia Gestalt, Dissociazione strutturale, EMDR, Approccio integrato.
Come citare
Copyright (c) 2026 Veronica Rosa

Questo lavoro è fornito con la licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale 4.0 Internazionale.
Abstract
Il presente lavoro rappresenta un contributo innovativo all’integrazione di prospettive complementari nella comprensione del trauma psicologico, con particolare focus sulla dimensione transgenerazionale della trasmissione traumatica e sugli approcci terapeutici. La novità di questo lavoro risiede nell’ipotesi di integrare evidenze epigenetiche emergenti con modelli psicoterapeutici basati sulla dissociazione strutturale, offrendo un framework teorico-clinico che riconosce simultaneamente le radici biologiche, psicologiche e relazionali del trauma. Mentre l’Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) si configura come terapia consolidata per l’emergenza e i traumi collettivi, la terapia della Gestalt e il modello delle parti con la loro integrazione rappresentano un’ipotesi suggestiva e innovativa. La ricerca epigenetica degli ultimi anni suggerisce che le esperienze traumatiche non solo lasciano tracce biologiche durature nei sopravvissuti diretti, ma potrebbero essere trasmesse alle generazioni successive attraverso modificazioni nella metilazione del DNA e nell’espressione genica. Questi meccanismi biologici si intrecciano con processi psicologici e relazionali complessi, creando pattern di trasmissione che richiedono approcci terapeutici sofisticati e multilivello. La Gestalt terapia, con la sua enfasi sul “qui e ora”, sulla consapevolezza corporea e sul contatto, offre contributi fondamentali. Il Modello delle Parti, sviluppato in modo particolare da Janina Fisher attraverso l’integrazione della psicoterapia sensomotoria con la teoria della dissociazione strutturale, e l’Internal Family Systems (IFS) di Richard Schwartz offrono framework clinici complementari per affrontare la frammentazione causata dal trauma. Si propone l’ipotesi di un modello integrato che riconosce le radici intergenerazionali del disagio psicologico e valorizza le risorse ereditate insieme alle vulnerabilità, aprendo nuove prospettive sia nella ricerca che nella pratica clinica.
Riferimenti bibliografici
- Yehuda, R., & Lehrner, A. (2018). Intergenerational transmission of trauma effects: putative role of epigenetic mechanisms. World psychiatry, 17(3), 243-257.
- Serpeloni, F., Radtke, K., de Assis, S. G., Henning, F., Nätt, D., & Elbert, T. (2017). Grandmaternal stress during pregnancy and DNA methylation of the third generation: an epigenome- wide association study. Translational psychiatry, 7(8), e1202-e1202.
- World Health Organization. (2013). Guidelines for the management of conditions that are specifically related to stress. World Health Organization.
- Shapiro, F. (2018). Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy: Basic Principles, Protocols, and Procedures. 3rd ed. New York: Guilford Press.
- Fisher, J. (2017). Healing the fragmented selves of trauma survivors: Overcoming internal self-alienation. Routledge.
- Fisher, J. (2017). Guarire la frammentazione del sé. Come integrare le parti di sé dissociate dal trauma.
- Fisher, J. (2023). Trasformare l’eredità del trauma: Un protocollo di lavoro con le parti per curare i sintomi del trauma e la frammentazione legata all’attaccamento. Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore.
- Yehuda, R., Daskalakis, N. P., Bierer, L. M., Bader, H. N., Klengel, T., Holsboer, F., & Binder, E. B. (2016). Holocaust exposure induced intergenerational effects on FKBP5 methylation. Biological psychiatry, 80(5), 372-380.
- Bowers, M. E., & Yehuda, R. (2016). Intergenerational transmission of stress in humans. Neuropsychopharmacology, 41(1), 232-244.
- Jawaid, A., Roszkowski, M., & Mansuy, I. M. (2018). Transgenerational epigenetics of traumatic stress. Progress in molecular biology and translational science, 158, 273-298.
- Lehrner, A., Bierer, L. M., Passarelli, V., Pratchett, L. C., Flory, J. D., Bader, H. N., ... & Yehuda, R. (2014). Maternal PTSD associates with greater glucocorticoid sensitivity in offspring of Holocaust survivors. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 40, 213-220.
- Zhou, A., & Ryan, J. (2023). Biological embedding of early-life adversity and a scoping review of the evidence for intergenerational epigenetic transmission of stress and trauma in humans. Genes, 14(8), 1639.
- Cozolino, L. (2017). The neuroscience of psychotherapy: Healing the social brain. WWNorton & Company.
- Schore, A. (2019). The development of the unconscious mind. WW Norton & Company.
- Meaney, M. J., & Szyf, M. (2005). Environmental programming of stress responses through DNA methylation: life at the interface between a dynamic environment and a fixed genome. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 7(2), 103-123.
- Champagne, F. A. (2008). Epigenetic mechanisms and the transgenerational effects of maternal care. Frontiers in neuroendocrinology, 29(3), 386-397.
- Kellermann, N. P. (2001). Transmission of Holocaust trauma-An integrative view. Psychiatry, 64(3), 256-267.
- Danieli, Y. (1998). Intergenerational handbook of multigenerational legacies of trauma. New York: Plenum Press.
- Nestler, E. J., Peña, C. J., Kundakovic, M., Mitchell, A., & Akbarian, S. (2016). Epigenetic basis of mental illness. The Neuroscientist, 22(5), 447-463.
- Szyf, M. (2012). The early‐life social environment and DNA methylation. Clinical genetics, 81(4), 341-349.
- Bohacek, J., & Mansuy, I. M. (2015). Molecular insights into transgenerational non-genetic inheritance of acquired behaviours. Nature Reviews Genetics, 16(11), 641-652.
- O’Donnell, K. J., & Meaney, M. J. (2017). Fetal origins of mental health: the developmental origins of health and disease hypothesis. American Journal of Psychiatry, 174(4), 319-328.
- Schore, A. N. (2015). Affect regulation and the origin of the self: The neurobiology of emotional development. Routledge.
- Kellerman, N. P. (2001). Psychopathology in children of Holocaust survivors: A review of the research literature. Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences, 38(1), 36-46.
- Atlas, G. (2015). The enigma of desire: Sex, longing, and belonging in psychoanalysis. Routledge.
- Spark, G. M., & Boszormenyi-Nagy, I. (1973). Invisible loyalties: reciprocity in intergenerational family therapy.
- McGoldrick, M., Gerson, R., & Petry, S. (2020). Genograms: Assessment and treatment. WW Norton & Company.
- Danieli, Y. (1992, March). Preliminary reflections from a psychological perspective. In Seminar on the Right to Restitution, Compensation and Rehabilitation for Victims of Gross Violations of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Maastricht (pp. 11-15).
- Oren, G., Shoshani, A., Samra, N. N., Verbeke, W. J., Vrticka, P., Aisnberg-Shafran, D., & Ein- Dor, T. (2025). From trauma to resilience: psychological and epigenetic adaptations in the third generation of holocaust survivors. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 26193.
- Holuka, C., Grova, N., Charalambous, E. G., Le CléacH, J., Turner, J. D., & Mposhi, A. (2024). Transgenerational impacts of early life adversity: from health determinants, implications to epigenetic consequences. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 164, 105785.
- Perls, F., Hefferline, R. F., & Goodman, P. (1971). Teoria e pratica della terapia della Gestalt. Astrolabio, Roma, 432.
- Wheeler, G. (2000). Beyond Individualism: Toward a New Understanding of Self, Relationship, and Experience. Gestalt Press.
- Yontef, G. M. (1993). Awareness, Dialogue and Process: Essays on Gestalt Therapy. Highland, NY: The Gestalt Journal Press.
- Polster, E., & Polster, M. (1986). Terapia della Gestalt integrata: Profili di teoria e pratica. Giuffrè.
- Taylor, M. (2016). Psicoterapia del trauma e pratica clinica. Corpo, Neuroscienze e Gestalt: Corpo, Neuroscienze e Gestalt. FrancoAngeli.
- Kepner, J. I. (2011). Body Process: Working with the Body in Psychotherapy (1987). Gestalt Review, 15(1).
- Joyce, P., & Sills, C. (2018). Skills in Gestalt counselling & psychotherapy.
- Van der Kolk, B. A. (1994). The body keeps the score: Memory and the evolving psychobiology of posttraumatic stress. Harvard review of psychiatry, 1(5), 253-265.
- Van der Kolk, B. (2020). Il corpo accusa il colpo: mente, corpo e cervello nell’elaborazione delle memorie traumatiche. Raffaello Cortina Editore.
- Porges, S. W. (2014). La teoria polivagale: fondamenti neurofisiologici delle emozioni, dell’attaccamento, della comunicazione e dell’autoregolazione. Giovanni Fioriti.
- Rosa, V., Ruggiero, L. Z., Armenante, O., Santonicola, C., & Iannazzo, A. (2024). Psicoterapia del trauma e intervento blended: un’ipotesi di modello integrato. Phenomena Journal-International Journal of Psychopathology, Neuroscience and Psychotherapy, 6(1), 54-80.
- Janet, P. (1904). L’amnésie et la dissociation des souvenirs par l’émotion. F. Alcan.
- Herman, J. L. (2015). Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence--from domestic abuse to political terror. Hachette UK.
- Van der Hart, O., Nijenhuis, E. R., Steele, K., & Liotti, G. (2011). Fantasmi nel sé: Trauma e trattamento della dissociazione strutturale. Raffaello Cortina Editore.
- Van der Hart, O., Nijenhuis, E., Steele, K., & Brown, D. (2004). Trauma-related dissociation: Conceptual clarity lost and found. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 38(11-12), 906-914.
- Ogden, P., Pain, C., & Fisher, J. (2006). A sensorimotor approach to the treatment of trauma and dissociation. Psychiatric Clinics, 29(1), 263-279.
- Liotti, G., & Farina, B. (2012). Sviluppi traumatici. Eziopatogenesi, clinica e terapia della dimensione dissociativa. G Ital Med Lav Erg, 34(2).
- Schwartz, R. C. (1995). Internal Family Systems Therapy. New York (Guilford) 1995.
- Schwartz, R. C., & Sweezy, M. (2019). Internal family systems therapy. Guilford Publications.
- Anderson, F. G., Sweezy, M., & Schwartz, R. C. (2017). Internal family systems skills training manual: Trauma-informed treatment for anxiety, depression, PTSD & substance abuse.
- Twombly, J. H. (2013). Integrating IFS with phase-oriented treatment of clients with dissociative disorder. In Internal family systems therapy (pp. 72-89). Routledge.
- Sweezy, M., & Ziskind, E. L. (Eds.). (2013). Internal family systems therapy: New dimensions. Routledge.
- Fosha, D., Siegel, D. J., & Solomon, M. F. (Eds.). (2011). The healing power of emotion: Affective neuroscience, development & clinical practice. WW Norton & Company.
- Siegal, D. J. (2001). La mente relazionale. Neurobiologia dell’esperienza interpersonale. it.
- Ogden, P., Minton, K., & Pain, C. (2012). Il trauma e il corpo: manuale di psicoterapia sensomotoria. Istituto di scienze cognitive.
- Steele, K., Dorahy, M. J., & van der Hart, O. (2022). Dissociation versus alterations in consciousness: Related but different concepts. In Dissociation and the dissociative disorders (pp. 66-80). Routledge.
- Fisher, J. (2010). Psychoeducational aids for treating psychological trauma.
- Smeeth, D., Beck, S., Karam, E. G., & Pluess, M. (2021). The role of epigenetics in psychological resilience. The Lancet Psychiatry, 8(7), 620–629.
- Wilker, S., Pfeiffer, A., Kolassa, S., Koslowski, D., Elbert, T., & Kolassa, I. T. (2023). Epigenetics of traumatic stress: The association of NR3C1 methylation and posttraumatic stress disorder symptom changes in response to narrative exposure therapy. Translational Psychiatry, 13, 32.
- Dema, B., Onyango, J., Ndugwa, C., Winkler, V., Elbert, T., & Wilker, S. (2021). DNA methylation changes following narrative exposure therapy in a randomized controlled trial with female former child soldiers. Scientific Reports, 11, 18669.