Feel like you’re tied up in knots? We need to go beyond talk therapy to get free!
Our bodies need to process stressful events through breath and movement. When we do not include body awareness, movement, and conscious breathing in trauma processing we limit our ability to work with our innate healing capacities. Somatic Therapy engages body awareness as an intervention in psychotherapy and addresses the connections between the brain, the mind, and behavior. Modern day somatic psychotherapies such as Somatic Experiencing or Sensorimotor Psychotherapy are most recognized today; however, the field of somatic psychology encompasses a broad range of modalities that have evolved over time.
EMDR Therapists with training in somatic interventions have advanced tools to work with the dysregulation of the nervous system associated with post traumatic stress. Bessel Van der Kolk, premier trauma treatment researcher, endorsed both Somatic Psychology and EMDR Therapy as the best approaches for the treatment of PTSD. Upcoming trainings
“The rich history of somatic psychology contextualizes the types of interventions body-centered psychotherapists use today. This post introduces several key principles from somatic psychology as applied to EMDR Therapy.”
-Dr. Arielle Schwartz
Somatic psychotherapy originated in the 1930’s and 1940’s with Wilhelm Reich; a colleague of Sigmund Freud. Reich perceived that our life force energy flowed through the body as expressions of primal needs and emotions. He identified “holding patterns” as areas of emotional tension in the body commonly held in the pelvis, abdomen, diaphragm, chest, neck, jaw, and forehead. These habitual tension patterns develop into physical symptoms such as headaches, grinding of teeth, or sluggish digestion. Reich identified that unmet needs throughout early development were the root holding patterns. His approach to releasing the bound energy ranged from body included cathartic screaming, kicking, and pushing to release the emotions and physical tension from the body.
In the 1950’s Alexander Lowen worked closely with Reich and branched off to develop Bioenergetics to resolve what he called the “bodymind conflict.” A key component of treatment treatment involved “body-reading” where clinicians observed and interpret clients’ physical, breathing, and muscular tension patterns. These patterns, called “character strategies,” were associated with core beliefs learned in early childhood. Here’s an example:
Imagine a toddler who is asserting his independence. He is curious by nature and enjoys testing everything and everyone. What happens when I bang on the pots and pans? What happens when I unroll the entire roll of toilet paper? What happens when I feel scared, when I cry, or when I get angry? He gets scolded for being angry and praised for being a “good boy.” He likes the good feelings that he gets when mom and dad are happy with him. Overtime, he keeps looking to them to ensure he is doing things right and learns how to subdue his own internal impulses and feelings. As a young adult he lives in a dichotomy between his desire for connection and his unexpressed feelings of anger. He wrestles with a deeply held belief that he has to perform to be loved. Physically he feels disconnected from his legs and pelvis revealing a classic “split” between his upper and lower portions of his body.
Classically speaking, Bioenergetics would bring clients into “stress postures” that place the body in long holds and sometimes uncomfortable holds to evoke vulnerable emotions and physical shaking. The ultimate goal of the work is to release the physical and emotional tension so that we feel grounded; reconnected to ourselves and the world.
Somatic Psychology has evolved over time from the cathartic approaches of Reich and Lowen. These early therapeutic modalities used intense and even invasive approaches such as deep pressure massage, primal screams, and stressful positions held over time. While these therapies create rapid change they risk re-traumatizing the client. As a result, modern day somatic approaches incorporate mindfulness to facilitate somatic release in a safe, contained fashion. Today’s somatic interventions emphasize:
These are just some of the many ways that somatic therapies support the release of trauma from the body and the healing of PTSD. You can learn more about Somatic Therapy interventions here.
According to Trauma expert, Bessel van der Kolk, Somatic Therapy and EMDR Therapy are considered the best approaches for the treatment of trauma. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy is a comprehensive approach to therapy that integrates elements of psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, interpersonal, experiential, and body-centered therapies to maximize treatment effects. EMDR Therapy uses a structured protocol for the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and related past experiences that trigger emotions, beliefs, sensations.
Somatic Interventions such as tracking sensations, deepening awareness, boundary awareness, and self-regulation compliment and, in my opinion, increase the efficacy of EMDR Therapy. Collectively these therapeutic modalities offer a profound healing tool for anyone facing the pain of PTSD.
Dr. Arielle Schwartz is a licensed clinical psychologist, wife, and mother in Boulder, CO. She offers trainings for therapists, maintains a private practice, and has passions for the outdoors, yoga, and writing. Dr. Schwartz is the author of The Complex PTSD Workbook: A Mind-Body Approach to Regaining Emotional Control and Becoming Whole. She is the developer of Resilience-Informed Therapy which applies research on trauma recovery to form a strength-based, trauma treatment model that includes Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), somatic (body-centered) psychology and time-tested relational psychotherapy. Like Dr. Arielle Schwartz on Facebook, follow her on Linkedin and sign up for email updates to stay up to date with all her posts.
Arielle Schwartz, PhD, is a psychologist, internationally sought-out teacher, yoga instructor, and leading voice in the healing of PTSD and complex trauma. She is the author of five books, including The Complex PTSD Workbook, EMDR Therapy and Somatic Psychology, and The Post Traumatic Growth Guidebook.
Dr. Schwartz is an accomplished teacher who guides therapists in the application of EMDR, somatic psychology, parts work therapy, and mindfulness-based interventions for the treatment of trauma and complex PTSD. She guides you through a personal journey of healing in her Sounds True audio program, Trauma Recovery.
She has a depth of understanding, passion, kindness, compassion, joy, and a succinct way of speaking about very complex topics. She is the founder of the Center for Resilience Informed Therapy in Boulder, Colorado where she maintains a private practice providing psychotherapy, supervision, and consultation. Dr. Schwartz believes that that the journey of trauma recovery is an awakening of the spiritual heart.
