Somatic Experiencing®

Trauma is part of the human experience, and so is the possibility of resolution and post-trauma growth. Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) recognises the innate wholeness and wisdom of the body that exists in all of us, and approaches trauma from the perspective of our innate capacity to recover and restore resilience to the organism.

SE is a body-oriented therapeutic modality for the resolution of symptoms resulting from stress, shock, and trauma that accumulate in the body and nervous system. Trauma, from an SE lens, isn’t in the event itself, but rather in the effect the experience has on the physiology of the body - when an experience is too overwhelming to be processed, whether acute or prolonged, it leaves a somatic residue in the physiology of the body and the resulting dysregulation in the nervous system can have a profound impact on daily life.

The SE approach offers a framework to assess and identify traumatic shock and where a person is “stuck” in the patterns of fight, flight, or freeze responses, and uses clinical tools and techniques to release and resolve these fixated physiological states so the person can enjoy more flexibility and resilience in the nervous system, and live more in present-moment awareness. SE can be used to support the resolution of any shock trauma, PTSD and emotional / attachment trauma.

Developed by Peter Levine, Ph.D., SE is based on a multidisciplinary intersection of physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics with more than 45 years of successful application.

THE SCIENCE

Trauma may begin as acute stress from a perceived life-threat (an overwhelming experience that happens too fast, too soon) or as the end product of cumulative stress (overwhelming experiences resulting from too little for too long, or too late). Both types of stress can seriously impair a person’s ability to function with resilience and ease. Trauma may result from a wide variety of stressors such as accidents, invasive medical procedures, sexual or physical assault, emotional abuse, neglect, war, natural disasters, loss, birth trauma, trans-generational trauma including epigenetics, or the stressors of ongoing fear, conflict or oppressive systems.

HOW IT WORKS

The Somatic Experiencing approach facilitates the completion of self-protective motor responses and the release of thwarted survival energy bound in the body, thus addressing the root cause of trauma symptoms. In a therapeutic process, the client is gently guided to develop a felt sense of safety in the body along with tolerance for difficult bodily sensations and suppressed emotions (and in the case of shock trauma working to complete thwarted defensive responses) to bring resolution to their nervous system.

Dr. Levine was inspired to study stress on the animal nervous system when he realized that animals are constantly under threat of death yet show no symptoms of trauma stuck in their systems. What he discovered was that trauma has to do with the third survival response to a perceived life threat, which is freeze. When fight and flight are not options, we freeze, shut down and collapse, like “playing dead.” However, this reaction is designed to be time-sensitive, in other words, it needs to run its course, and the massive energy that was prepared for fight or flight gets discharged, through shaking and trembling. If the immobility phase isn’t complete, that charge stays trapped, and, from the body’s perspective, it is still under threat. SE sessions works to release this stored energy and turn off this threat alarm that causes dysregulation and dissociation. SE helps people understand this body response to trauma and work through a “body first” approach to healing.