What is Somatic
Experiencing Therapy?
The Somatic Experiencing (SE) method is a short-term naturalistic approach that focuses on resolving trauma-related issues.
Help for trauma survivors.
“The Somatic Experiencing® (SE) method is a body-oriented approach to the healing of trauma and other stress disorders. It is the life’s work of Dr. Peter A. Levine, resulting from his multidisciplinary study of stress physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics, together with over 45 years of successful clinical application. The SE approach releases traumatic shock, which is key to transforming PTSD and the wounds of emotional and early developmental attachment trauma.” - Taumahealing.org
"Until the person has dealt with and sufficiently resolved the physiological shock, they can't deal with the emotions."
Dr. Peter A. Levine
Approach
Somatic Experiencing offers a framework to assess where a person is “stuck” in the fight, flight or freeze responses and provides clinical tools to resolve these fixated physiological states. It provides effective skills appropriate to a variety of healing professions including mental health, medicine, physical and occupational therapies, bodywork, addiction treatment, education, and others.
Benefits
The results from Somatic Experiencing therapy include relief from shame, stress, anxiety, panic attacks, hyper-vigilance, depression, habits and addictions, patterns and vicious cycles, self-sabotage, syndromes and dissociative behaviors. It brings on a sense of vibrancy and reawakens feelings of centeredness, boundaries, empowerment, being “in the moment”, safety, and joyfulness.
How is it Different?
We can become traumatized when we are pre-verbal, precognitive, and pre-conceptual. If we can become traumatized before we have the capacity for thought, words, language, and perception, then how can the wound of trauma be psychological in nature? There is a psychological component, however, but it is has more to do with how, in hindsight, we have compartmentalized, suppressed or defended ourselves against the pain and fear of the original wounding experience.
Unlike traditional talk therapy and other cognitive modalities, the focus is on the biology rather than the biography. Talk therapy works more with the higher brain (cognitive rational mind), while somatic experiencing (SE) therapy focuses on the lower brain (animal survival instinct) responses, the autonomic nervous system, and the “felt” sense.
Touch can also be incorporated as a way to resource the client with a sense of support and to increase attention and connection to sensation and the body itself, but this is not a massage. The client may remain seated or recline during the session.
About Depersonalization
Disassociation is a physiological experience in which people feel disconnected from their sensory experience, sense of self, or personal experience. Somatic experiencing can have a beneficial effect on these symptoms.
Alanis Morisette Talks
with Dr. Peter Levine
In her podcast about stress and trauma recovery, resilience, Somatic Experiencing, and more. Subscribe on iTunes: http://smarturl.it/CWApodcast
A Typical Somatic Experiencing Session
A Somatic Experiencing session is similar to traditional “talk” therapy (for lack of a better term). Somatic Experiencing is not a formula or an equation. It is a journey of self-discovery. All of us have had wounding experiences, but not all of them were traumatizing. But unresolved past traumatic events increase the likelihood of being traumatized again in the future.
A skilled Somatic Experiencing Practitioner will help you to track current re-enactments and patterns back to their original wound, the beliefs that were formed around that wounding experiencing and to the defense structures, coping mechanisms and survival strategies that were put in place to protect you from future similar threats. Through focusing more on what you feel than on what you think about the event, the nervous system is enabled to discharge and reorganize and return to resilience.
A lot of time and attention is spent getting the client resourced (feeling better). Delving into past events cathartically is avoided, as that can re-traumatize and further set trauma into the system.
In the digital age, Emotional Fitness will be more critical than ever to the quality of our lives. It remains the most accurate predictor of success and happiness. This is because we experience the world emotionally - not cognitively. We make most major decisions based on how we feel - not what we think.