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As a psychotherapist who specializes in helping clients to overcome trauma, I have been using Somatic Experiencing (SE) regularly for 15 years and I have found it to be a highly effective therapy to heal trauma (see my article: What is a Trauma Therapist?).
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| Somatic Experiencing Can Heal Trauma |
How Does Somatic Experiencing Heal Trauma?
Somatic Experiencing, which is an experiential therapy, helps to shift the body's autonomic physical responses by allowing clients to process and discharge "stuck" energy associated with trauma's fight, flight and freeze responses (see my article: Somatic Experiencing: A Mind-Body Oriented Therapy For Overcoming Trauma).
Examples of this include changes in heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, breathing, which are all part of the body's autonomic response system.
"Stuck" or "trapped" energy means the body's instinctive survival response (flight, flight, freeze) to a dangerous event doesn't complete, which leaves excess energy and heightened nervous system arousal stuck in the body.
This unresolved survival energy can take the form of ongoing health and mental health problems including (but not limited to):
- chronic pain
- muscle tension
- fatigue
- problems with self regulation
Changes in SE are often subtle responses like feeling warmth, tingling or vibrations which indicate the release of trapped trauma-related energy.
A Somatic Experiencing therapist helps to guide clients to notice and track these felt sensations (see my article: What is the Felt Sense?).
Somatic Experiencing therapists also use pendulation to help clients shift their awareness from challenging emotions to a sense of calm so they can gradually process and integrate traumatic experiences (see my article: Coping With Emotional Distress By Using Pendulation in SE).
Understanding interoceptive and proprioceptive sensations is also part of the skill building clients learns in SE.
Interoceptive sensations are the sensations within your body, like the sensations mentioned above: heart beating, muscles tensing or feeling hungry or thirsty. As part of a traumatic experience, these sensations can become hyperactivated which leads to constant anxiety or discomfort.
Proprioceptive sensations is your body's sense of where its different parts are in space and how they are moving. Trauma can disrupt proprioceptive sensations which can make you feel disconnected from certain parts of your body.
SE can change these trauma-related disruptions to restore the natural rhythms of your nervous system that became dysregulated by the trauma.
Along the way, you learn embodied awareness so you feel more connected to your body and bodily sensations instead of feeling overwhelmed by them. This can lead to the transformation of intense and distressing sensations to a greater sense of well-being and safety.
What Are the Benefits of Somatic Experiencing?
As an experiential therapyp, Somatic Experiencing integrates body awareness into the therapeutic process which makes it unique compared to other non-experiential therapies like regular talk therapy (see my article: Why is Experiential Therapy More Effective Than Regular Talk Therapy to Overcome Trauma?).
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| Somatic Experiencing Can Heal Trauma |
As mentioned above, Somatic Experiencing can help to release trauma which can bring the body back into a regulated state.
Somatic Experiencing can be used as a primary therapy or it can be integrated with other forms of experiential therapy including:
See my article: Integrating EMDR and Somatic Experiencing
Getting Help in Therapy to Overcome Trauma
As a trauma therapist, Somatic Experiencing is one modality I use either alone or in combination with other types of experiential therapy (see my article: Why Experiential Therapy is More Effective Than Regular Talk Therapy).
I work in a collaborative way with clients to help them to decide which modality or combination of modalities would be best for their particular needs.
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| Getting Help in Therapy to Overcome Trauma |
If you have been struggling with unresolved trauma, you could benefit from seeking help from a Somatic Experiencing therapist.
Freeing yourself from your traumatic history can help you to lead a more fulfilling life.
About Me
I am a licensed New York psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, Somatic Experiencing and Certified Sex Therapist.
I work with individual adults and couples.
To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.
To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.
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