Somatic Therapies
What does Somatic mean?
The term “somatic” has gained a ton of attention on social media platforms like TikTok as people are becoming more and more curious about treatments outside of the usual limits of traditional talk therapy. There are many types of somatic therapies out there, and each of them have their benefits (see this helpful article!)
Somatic means “relating to the body, especially as distinct from the mind”. Another term often used for these types of therapies is a “bottom-up” approach. In contrast to a “top-down” approach (mind first, then body), a bottom-up approach aims at changing the way the body responds to trauma experiences before working up towards changing the thoughts and behaviors.
This type of therapy was created due to the fact that cognitive-behavioral and exposure-based interventions do not help all clients to reduce symptoms of PTSD, especially those who suffer from complex or dissociative forms of PTSD (Corrigan & Hull, 2015).
Types of Somatic approaches:
-
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a treatment approach created by Dr. Peter Levine focusing on how emotions appear within the body. It believes that unresolved emotional issues and traumatic events can be “trapped” inside, causing our natural autonomic nervous system to remain in a state of fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. SE works by gently guiding clients to develop increasing tolerance for difficult body sensations and suppressed emotions, thus releasing this charged energy.
“Somatic Experiencing supports clients to learn about their autonomic nervous system so that they can release this trapped physical energy. ”
-
Created with Pat Ogden, sensorimotor therapy integrates concepts and ideas from both cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and neuroscience to better understand the mind-body connection.
“SP welcomes the body as an integral source of information which can guide resourcing and the accessing and processing of challenging, traumatic, and developmental experience. SP is a holistic approach that includes somatic, emotional, and cognitive processing and integration (Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute).”
This modality uses a three-phase treatment approach to gently guide the client through the therapeutic process via: Safety and Stabilization, Processing, and Integration.
-
The art of tapping has been practiced for centuries, originating 2,500 years from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and qigong. EFT has adapted tapping and merged it with modern psychology to make it more clinically potent.
Tapping is the practice of applying repeated pressure to specific points on the body, called meridian points. It activates the parasympathetic nervous system to shift from overwhelm and distress to safety and calm.
In short, tapping calms the nervous system, then helps you shift from negative experiences towards positive ones. Clinical EFT is not positive thinking or manifestation. Instead, EFT is about holding the distressing experience and emotions with greater compassion and acceptance . EFT helps with defusing the negative experiences and emotions in the body, allowing us to be open to the present and future possibilities.
Resources: The Tapping Solution Foundation
How long do these treatments last?
Somatic therapies have no set length and varies from person to person.
You and your therapist will discuss treatment goals and collaborate when a reduction of sessions, or full termination, is right for you.