Somatic Experiencing therapy is a body-based therapy that targets negative emotions, sensations and thoughts that were created by past traumatic experiences. The therapy works with our biology and soothes the nervous system through a variety of techniques.
Research in the field of psychology is proving that trauma often lingers in the body and mind long after a traumatic event. SE uses a therapeutic process that reduces stress around the past incident and provides relief for the participant, physically and emotionally. With SE therapy, we not only reset the mind but also the body.
It’s important to realize that many of us have unresolved trauma and we may not know we are holding it in our bodies.
Trauma can manifest as:
· Unhealthy coping methods (substance addiction, unwanted behavior patterns, process addictions)
· Eating and food disorders
· Long-term grief
· Depression and anxiety
· Body reactions (chronic pain, hormonal issues, immune system problems, sexual dysfunction, problems with digestion)
· Unstable emotions and the inability to cope with stress
· Heightened awareness or slow freeze feeling around thoughts related to the traumatic event or revisiting of a person, place or thing during the event
Benefits of Somatic Experiencing
SE reduces fight, flight and freeze reactions
During a traumatic situation our nervous system and brain system snap through a serious of biological reactions in the body. This process is meant to alert ourselves of potential danger, assess the threat and decide how to survive the situation. As animals, this process happens in milliseconds and without knowing it we move into fight, flight or freeze or a combination of the survival instincts. It is important to note that one survival instinct is not better than another and each nervous system is unique. Frequently, we may have a genetic disposition for one survival instinct or as a child had to learn to use one instinct more than another. A baby living in a traumatic situation cannot run or fight, that child can only freeze in order to survive. A child cannot fight an abusive adult. Your nervous was simply doing its best to survive and it is what has kept you alive.
Unfortunately, many of us are walking around with our nervous systems still turned on even though the danger has long passed. When the body is stuck on, we never get to reach feelings of relaxation or truly feeling safe. SE helps clients connect with their body and nervous system, and over time allows for a reset in this fight flight freeze response. We begin to find a true “down regulated” nervous system and return to a place where we are not stuck on.
SE reduces negative thoughts and feelings we have about ourselves
The body and the mind are a holistic system is we believe negative thoughts about ourselves we will likely also feel the unpleasant emotions that honestly may not even be true. The SE process helps us unblock negative thoughts and emotions that we store based on a traumatic event, whether single incident or a more chronic series of incidents. As these negative thoughts are replaced with positive thoughts and more truthful beliefs a client will eventually begin to feel more pleasant emotions as well.
SE can help you get in touch with your body
One of the things that trauma can do to us is make us feel out of touch with our bodies. A trauma can cause us to feel numb, to shut off emotions or even feel like we are out of our body. A coping skill that many people develop is to stay out of the body in order to survive. This disconnect can lead to a myriad of health issues related to the body but also to mental health struggles. SE can reconnect the body and the mind, making the client feel whole again. In fact, SE can actually create more body awareness and more emotional connection than what the client had previously experienced, particularly if the trauma was developmental.
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