How To Manage Distress and Trauma With Less Talking: All About Somatic Experiencing™
There's a lot of buzz about the nervous system out there! Michelle Buckner, LPC is here to answer your questions about Somatic Experiencing™, a therapeutic approach that works with your neurophysiology to get you relief from stress and trauma.
Q: What is Somatic Experiencing™?
A: Somatic Experiencing™ (SE) is an approach to therapy that focuses on the nervous system and how the body has been impacted by stress and trauma.
Q: How does it work?
A: The primary focus in SE is on the sensations within the body. For many of us, we do not have a huge sensory awareness of what’s going on within the body, known as interoception. Through SE, clients build awareness of what is happening within the body. SE also helps clients increase their capacity to experience a wider range of emotions and physiological sensations. Once a client develops this awareness, they are able to find areas of stored trauma within the body and work to complete what the nervous system was unable to complete at the time of the trauma. As a person releases stored trauma, the nervous system returns to a state of balance and the need for the unconscious, self-protective responses (dissociation, panic, rage, etc.) diminishes.
Q: What does a Somatic Experiencing™ session look like?
A: SE is similar and different from regular psychotherapy, or talk-based therapy. In talk therapy, clients tend to lean on the rational brain and use a lot of words to make sense of what they think is happening. An SE session involves talking, but the main focus is on the experiencing that takes place. This means that as a person brings their awareness to the experience of a bodily sensation, they begin to notice that other things arise, like an emotion, a memory, an image, or another sensation. Through various techniques, the client and therapist work to build a sensory vocabulary and increase the client's ability to be present with the body and the information it has stored.
Once the client feels comfortable with this phase and equipped to handle distress, the focus of therapy moves to working with stored trauma. At this point, the client utilizes techniques that promote the movement of trauma-related sensations through the body. In doing so, the client releases the trauma rather than stores it.
Q: What if I don’t like to feel things? Will Somatic Experiencing™ work for me?
A: One of the main principles in SE is the idea of titration. This means that the therapist helps the client feel uncomfortable emotions and sensations in small increments so that the client does not feel overwhelmed. The goal is to work with the client’s current level of tolerance for emotions and sensations and then to build from there. This slow and measured pace is vital because attempting to work through trauma too quickly or experiencing more than a client has the capacity to tolerate may cause re-traumatization. Instead, the therapist and client work collaboratively to find a pace that feels manageable and tolerable. One of the cool things about SE is that as the client, you may notice or experience something, and we can work through it without having to say a word about the details of what you’re seeing or remembering.
Q: How was Somatic Experiencing™ created?
A: Dr. Peter Levine created SE through his work with people who had experienced various types of traumas. He noticed that humans have the same nervous system patterns (fight/flight/freeze) as found in the animal kingdom. However, in the natural world, there are not traumatized animals! Curious about what animals might know that humans don’t, Dr. Levine discovered how animals process the experience of threat differently. Wild animals allow the energy of the stressful experience to move through their bodies such that the energy does not become stuck or stored in the body as is the case with humans.
Q: What can Somatic Experiencing™ be used to treat?
A: SE techniques can be helpful to anyone and everyone! Understanding the fight/flight/freeze response helps clients understand how the body takes over without the mind’s consent during moments of stress in life. SE provides useful tools to heal from anything that overwhelms an individual, whether it’s a single event or a lasting experience. Things like natural disasters, car accidents, sports injuries, falls, and assaults/attacks are examples of single-event experiences. Long-lasting experiences that impact the nervous system include things like childhood neglect/abuse, medical conditions, and social injustice.
Q: What if I have a current therapist, do I have to quit working with them?
A: Not at all. You can think of SE as a skill set that assists the individual in processing information. You and I can work to promote resiliency within the nervous system while you continue to work on talking through things with your established therapist. I am also happy to consult with your current therapist or medical providers.
Schedule an Appointment
If you have additional questions, feel free to reach out to Michelle Buckner at Michelle@MichelleBucknerCounseling.com. To make an appointment, call 601-362-7020. You can also check out the resources page on Peter Levine’s website https://traumahealing.org/se-101 for additional information.
