Somatic Therapist

Somatic Therapy

Have you ever been in a situation where—for reasons you can’t necessarily explain—you just feel… bad? Where you suddenly feel shame, fear, guilt, or something else, without any specific trigger? Or your body just feels uneasy- like somethings not right, maybe your breathing changes or you go numb. If this sounds familiar, a somatic therapist may be exactly what you need.

You see, moments like the one described above are caused by your brain. Your neural pathways, to be exact. They’re reacting to something that reminds your body of a previous trauma but on the surface it might appear like there’s no apparent threat or danger.

Basically, when you go through a traumatic event, your brain tries to protect you from ever having this experience again. This is why alarm bells start ringing in your head in certain situations, even though you can’t pinpoint a cause.

Most importantly, talk therapy alone (like CBT) just isn’t very effective for resolving this. But somatic therapy, also called somatic psychotherapy or somatic experiencing therapy, could make all the difference.

What is Somatic Experiencing Therapy?

Somatic therapy is a modality of psychotherapy that focuses on the connection between your brain and your body.

It combines established aspects of talk therapy with techniques that use the sensations in your body as a road map, creating a body-focused approach to healing.

Somatic psychotherapy is centered around the proven mind-body connection. When you go through a traumatic event, you don’t just carry it with you mentally—you physically carry that tension and stress in your body, too.

Somatic experiencing therapy helps you release both the mental and physical weight of these burdens so you can truly heal yourself.

Your therapist will help you become more aware of your body, learn to calm physical feelings of distress, and become skilled at releasing stuck emotions.

Types of Somatic Therapy

Somatic therapy is an umbrella term that includes different somatic modalities used in psychotherapy to release stored memories and physiological responses from the body and mind. Here are some of the modalities that work really well for people wishing to overcome anxiety and trauma:

AEDP – Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy

AEDP psychotherapy is an approach that seeks to alleviate patients’ psychological suffering by helping them process the overwhelming emotions associated with trauma in a way that facilitates corrective emotional and relational experiences that mobilize positive changes in our neuroplastic brains.

IFS– Internal Family Systems

Looking through the lens of IFS, we learn that throughout our development many “parts” or subpersonalities form in order to protect us from pain and uncomfortable emotions. When we take the time to get to know our parts and give them compassion and a space to voice their concerns, fears, and plans we can begin to integrate them with our core self (who we really are) and stop self sabotaging behaviors.

Brainspotting – (an evolution of EMDR)

Brainspotting is a powerful, focused treatment method that works by identifying, processing and releasing core neurophysiological sources of emotional pain, trauma, anxiety and a variety of other challenging symptoms trapped inside our body.

Much like EMDR, it is based on the profound attunement of the therapist with the patient. It uses that attunement to find somatic cues and extinguish them by down-regulating the amygdala and creating homeostasis.

In lamens terms, it rewires your brain to stop producing stress chemicals and anxiety when presented with situations that remind your brain of past stressors. This treatment evolved out of the widely known EMDR and is reported to work more effectively and precisely.

Techniques Used During Somatic Therapy

Some of the techniques you can expect during somatic experiencing therapy include:

• Body awareness – Your somatic therapist walks you through recognizing and releasing physical tension in your body, helping you release pent-up thoughts and feelings
• Grounding – Learning to connect deeply with your body and your environment, allowing you to stop emotional spirals before they start
• Sequencing – Analyzing physical tension that stems from your emotions, enabling you to process and begin healing emotionally
• Titration – Your somatic therapist guides you through a past traumatic event, asking you to observe and describe the memory and any accompanying physical sensations

How Does Somatic Therapy Differ from Traditional Therapy?

Somatic therapy differs from traditional therapy in that it targets the root cause of your symptoms. In talk therapy you can try to gain an understanding of your symptoms but in somatic therapy you target the places in your brain and body that are holding onto the old trauma and causing the symptoms to keep occuring. The goal of somatic therapy is to have no elevated or unwanted symptoms related to a previous trauma, such as dissociation, panic, shaking, racing heart, etc.

We have witnessed many clients get free from the limitations of trauma and anxiety in many areas of their lives by consistently engaging in somatic therapy.

Who Can Benefit from Somatic Therapy?

Somatic psychotherapy may benefit you if you’re dealing with:

• PTSD
• Emotional or physical trauma
• Intimacy issues
• Addiction
• Anxiety
• Grief
• Abuse recovery
• Depression
• Trust issues
• Eating disorders
• OCD
• Stress
• Chronic pain

Alternatively, you might be struggling with heavy feelings of anxiety or guilt? Maybe you’ve even tried talk therapy before, but it felt like trying to “think your way out” of your emotions.

If this sounds familiar, somatic experiencing therapy may be what you’ve been missing all this time. Your life can get better—you don’t have to feel like this all the time.

If you’re ready to learn more about working with a somatic therapist, contact us today and schedule a Free Consultation.

Effectiveness of Somatic Psychotherapy

Whether you’ve already tried out talk therapy or you’ve never tried any kind of therapy before, it’s normal to feel a bit unsure about getting started with a somatic therapist.

And frankly, somatic psychotherapy is a newer modality compared to, say, CBT, which has been utilized for over a century.

But over the past few decades, many studies have been done into the effectiveness of somatic therapy, with new data being compiled almost daily:

• A 2017 trial found somatic experiencing therapy was extremely effective for treating PTSD and depression
• In a 2018 research paper, a therapist documented their lack of progress with a patient, and compared it to the positive changes he noticed in the same patient after introducing somatic therapy
• A 2021 review discovered somatic therapy can reduce physical symptoms of trauma and chronic pain

Frequently Asked Questions About Somatic Therapy

What happens during a somatic therapy session?

During a somatic therapy session, you can choose an event that recently made you feel triggered and experience unwanted symptoms.

1. Your somatic therapist prepares you for the session. Depending on your needs, you may be asked to lie down, close your eyes, or pay special attention to tension in your body while describing the event (this may vary based on which technique your therapist is using)
2. As you discuss the memory, your therapist will gently, kindly interrupt to draw your attention to specific details or emotions.
3. You will slowly release the traumatic emotions over time, with your therapist guiding you through the process of remembering, and then relaxing again. The feeling of safety created by the safe space you and your therapist create is of paramount importance. It is during this part of the process that your brain begins to unpair the stressful stimuli with fight or flight responses.

This is a very broad, general wireframe for a somatic psychotherapy session. Because there are various techniques best suited to specific issues, each session can look a bit different than this.

How do I find a qualified somatic therapist?

You can find a qualified somatic therapist by searching online for “somatic therapy near me” and looking for someone who:

• Specializes in somatic psychotherapy, ideally with somatic certifications
• Has positive online reviews from past and current clients
• Seems like a good fit for your personality based on their website

Ultimately, a qualified somatic therapist knows that you just can’t talk your way through trauma. True recovery requires an intervention into your body-mind connection.

At Holistic Mental Health Counseling, this is our specialty—we truly take a holistic, whole-self approach to help you reclaim wellness.

If you’re ready to create and step into the life that’s rightfully yours with the help of one of our amazing somatic therapists or team members, call us today at (917) 781-0041 or text us (833)-658-9181.