Prof. Tsachi Ein-Dor

From Trauma to Resilience

This keynote presentation draws from Project Alpha’s six-year longitudinal data to illuminate the transformative journey from trauma to resilience through two compelling narratives. Our first cohort compares third-generation Holocaust survivors with matched controls, revealing how intergenerational trauma manifests in distinct patterns across HPA axis functioning, oxytocin regulation, sympathetic nervous system activation, and dopamine pathways. Project Alpha’s unique longitudinal tracking demonstrates how descendants develop compensatory neurobiological adaptations that paradoxically transform ancestral suffering into enhanced stress resilience. Our second narrative follows the parents in our cohort who were orphaned in childhood, documenting their remarkable capacity for post-traumatic growth through the same neurobiological systems. Six years of Project Alpha data reveal how early adversity catalyzes extraordinary adaptations in these four key regulatory networks, creating measurable biological markers of resilience that shape their parenting and family dynamics. These intertwined stories demonstrate trauma’s dual legacy: while neurobiological dysregulation persists across generations and lifecycles, these same systems simultaneously evolve protective mechanisms. Project Alpha’s ongoing longitudinal perspective reveals that resilience emerges not despite trauma, but through the active transformation of suffering into biological and psychological strength—offering profound hope for humanity’s capacity for healing and growth.

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Prof. Tsachi Ein-Dor is an internationally recognized expert in developmental psychology's Attachment Theory, with a wide range of experience in complex statistical analysis of behavioral and biological data. In 'Project Alpha,' he is the lead researcher. Professor Tsachi Ein-Dor was the first to define and explore the social defense theory, which examines the adaptive aspects of various attachment types while considering both the individual and the group, especially during times of stress. He has over 80 articles published in scholarly journals, wrote the book "The Psychology of Terror: From Psychophysics to Politics," presented his work at numerous scientific conferences, and has been awarded research grants from several academic institutions.