Life has always found ways to throw us around with its challenges and traumas, it is very often that we experience situations that cause us extreme stress and emotional damage.
This is why there are remedies and techniques available that attempt to heal and restore hope to the affected people. Such strategies include counselling and specifically somatic therapy.
The Very Well Mind publication explains somatic therapy, also known as somatic experiencing therapy as a mental health treatment that links the mind and body, focusing on releasing stress, tension, and trauma through body-oriented modalities like dance, breathwork, meditation, talk therapy, and mind-body exercises.
The above publication lists the different types of somatic therapy which include:
- Sensorimotor psychotherapy
- The Hakomi Method
- Bioenergetic analysis
- Biodynamic psychotherapy
- Brainspotting
According to Psych Central, the nervous system can become stuck in survival mode after a traumatic event, leading to increased blood sugar and blood pressure, and weakening the immune system. This is said to result in physical symptoms and deeply rooted beliefs. “Unlike exposure therapy (a common form of psychotherapy for PTSD), somatic experiencing doesn’t usually require a complete retelling of the traumatic event. Rather, the client thinks about traumatic memories that lead to high levels of stress and then learns to diminish the arousal through body awareness and various techniques.”
The kinds of experiences that usually need this type of therapy according to Harvard Health include,
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Complicated grief
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Trust and intimacy issues
- Self-esteem problems.
Khiron Clinics mentions that somatic therapy techniques aim at accomplishing the following for you:
Strengthen bodily awareness: Techniques such as grounding, resourcing and visualisation, and body scans focus on bringing awareness to the body and mind, targeting deep-seated trauma stored in the nervous system.
Release trauma: The above source further states that somatic therapy helps in managing symptoms of PTSD by helping individuals reconnect with their bodies, it aims to transform trauma into regulation by focusing on how thoughts and reactions affect the body.
Enhances self-improvement: “Though somatic experiencing allows us to recognise how our body feels and where our unprocessed emotions lie, it also gives us the tools to process and deal with them. Many somatic exercises, such as grounding and resourcing, can be completed at home or work, so you can utilise them whenever you need to self-soothe after encountering a trigger.”
Also see: Pros and cons of aspirin therapy
