Somatic Experiencing Therapy: Exploring the Mind-Body Connection

Practicing meditation by the sea at sunset to enhance the mind-body connection (tCaPC)

The mind-body connection is an important pillar of the growth and stability of every human being. Traditional therapy is good but for certain individuals, dealing with significant experiences involves understanding the physical sensations and the unresolved emotions lodged somewhere in the mind. While trauma has a lot to do with mental health, it can affect physical health—symptoms of trauma-like effects on our physical health, which is why somatic therapy comes into play.

Understanding Somatic Therapy

Many people have probably not heard of bodily therapy. Unlike other forms of therapy, it has yet to hit the mainstream. Somatic therapy proffers a more holistic kind of healing when compared to other forms of therapy. It tends to have the effect of a painful or significant experience in your soul. Somatic Therapy was a process developed by Pete Levine using the human body to understand and release trauma. This process focuses on the body and all the experiences and emotions that are trapped in it.

For instance, a person struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder may find it very difficult to sleep or concentrate. To be distracted, work becomes an excuse, and any other thing that can potentially stress the body. Anxiety can also stimulate tense muscles, and stiffness and potentially cause a lot of pain. The body is like a temporal escape for the emotions from our minds, so there is constant wear and tear.

Pillars of Somatic Therapy

●     Picking Sensations: Somatic therapy focuses on physical sensations and how trauma affects the body, rather than just talk. These feelings only arise when the trauma is being discussed or reminisced. An example is a tensed shoulder or a finger twitch.

Receiving somatic therapy to release physical tension and emotional trauma (tCaPC)

●     Pendulation: This involves a daring process where the therapist guides you through emotional distress from your trauma, and back to a relaxed state. So, throughout this session, you're swinging between high emotions and calmness.

●     Titration: This is a gradual approach to processing trauma. Rather than telling you to face it head-on, the therapist guides you through small sequences and lets you process a part before moving on to the next.

Let's bring somatic experience to our reality with Carissa’s story.

Ringing in my ears

Carissa had just gotten back from her therapy session with Dr. Encore. She set her bag on the couch and wandered off looking for something to drink. When she grabbed her bottle of wine, she sat down on the kitchen stool and just stared into space. She had had two sessions a week for three weeks, yet it seemed like nothing was changing. She had even tried to live the minimalist way, yet nothing changed. She still had the ringing in her ears every night. Carrisa had gone to her father's house in the hood to see him. She just got a new job as a surgical resident and she was dying to tell him. She drove into his driveway and quickly came out of the car when she saw her father with his arms stretched, waiting to hug her. She had just gotten a little closer when she heard two gunshots, ringing loudly in her ear. She shut her eyes tight and when she opened it again, her father was on the floor.

While she took in the shock, she could not get rid of the ringing in her ear. It was a constant that haunted her every day. She struggled with insomnia because all she could hear before bed were two shots and the constant ringing in her ear.

Seeking professional help

After months of struggling and taking sleeping pills, Carissa decided to see a therapist. She wanted to work through her struggles and she wanted to stop the ringing in her ear. She started talk therapy because that was what everyone knew. She told her therapist of the traumatic event with her father and when she started hearing the loud ring in her ear. Doctor Encore engaged her in different techniques, but he was having a hard time getting through what would trigger the ringing in her ear before she went to bed.

After a dozen therapy sessions with different techniques, Doctor Encore decided to talk to Carissa about Somatic therapy. He asked her to give it a chance and recommended an expert to take care of her.

Exploring the mind-body connection

Engaging in a somatic therapy session to explore and heal trauma (tCaPC)

Carissa was skeptical about this new kind of therapy because she did not know what it would mean for her. She was more worried about its ability to help, but this was her last option. There was no harm in trying.

The next day, she went to meet the expert and told him about her trauma and her journey. The expert suggested that she try a somatic therapist and it turned out to be her healing secret. During her first session, the therapist asked Carissa to narrate the events of her father's death and she did. While she reminisced, she suddenly put her hands over her ears and hit her face like she was scared. She had heard the two shots and the ringing in her ears. She noticed her clenched stomach and how uncomfortable she felt.

In her next session, her therapist helped her by discussing the events of that day, and the calming experiences in my present. While she thought nothing of it, this technique was a subtle nod positive way of distracting herself. She noticed the absence of earrings while she swung from her traumatic experience to her calming memories.

During the final sessions, the therapist took a chunk of everything that happened on the day of her father's death and after, helping her dissect, understand, and figure out ways to cope with the effects on her body. She also understood the important link between her mind and her body and how it contributed to her wholeness as an individual. After a few sessions, Carissa did not get any ringing in her ear. So, she pulled the duvet over her body and tucked herself to sleep.

Conclusion 

Although cognitive therapy is ideal for anyone, somatic therapy can go a long way in understanding deep traumatic events if done by a skilled person. Somatic therapy offers a holistic approach to understanding wholeness through the mind-body connection. It provides an outlet for traveling emotions and the feelings under the surface of your skin. Somatic Therapy is yet to be fully explored and it could be one-of-a-kind.