Somatic Experiencing® (SE) is a body – oriented approach to the healing of trauma and other stress disorders. Beginning in the 1970’s Dr. Peter Levine studied animals in the wild to learn about how they deal with threats to their survival. He observed that while animals in the wild are constantly under threat of death, they show no symptoms of trauma. What Dr. Levine discovered is that unresolved traumatic stress is unique to human beings and animals in captivity. He suggests that trauma is related to the incompletion of the survival responses, which include fight, flight and freeze. When fight and flight are not options, we “freeze” or immobilize.
Trauma is not about an event. It is about an interruption in the connection in the physiological systems (the brain, the emotions and the body) in a person that do not allow the threat response cycle to complete. An analogy might help here. Think of a car with a brake and an accelerator. The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is comprised of two branches, the “accelerator” and the “brake”. The accelerator is our Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS). The brake is our Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS). These work in tandem. The Autonomic Nervous System regulates all of the basic functions of our bodies, including our internal organs. It operates automatically, without our control, and is the source of our survival responses. Physical, emotional and psychological symptoms arise when these normal regulatory mechanisms are interrupted in some way. The dysregulated Autonomic Nervous System is much like a car driven with both the brake and the accelerator fully engaged. There may be erratic fluctuations and or a fixation (rather than fluidity) at one extreme in the nervous system response. What might this look like? If the “accelerator” is stuck in engagement (over activation of the SNS) you may experience:
If the “brake” is stuck in engagement (over activation of the PNS) you may experience:
Somatic Experiencing works to restore the natural rhythmic cycle between the “brake” and the “accelerator”, the charge and discharge of activation in the Autonomic Nervous System. When traumatic stress is resolved in therapy you are more likely to feel relaxed and at ease, to free to enjoy relationships more, to feel more grounded, and likely to experience more choice in your life. The SE method uses techniques designed to support the nervous system. In a safe environment these tools help clients become more aware of their bodies, and where in their bodies they might experience distress. Clients develop a language for emotion and physical sensation. With increased body awareness clients learn to gradually tolerate bodily sensations associated with strong emotion. Trauma is a normal and natural part of life, not a disease. The body-mind is designed to heal intense and extreme experiences. In the words of Peter Levine, the founder of the SE model, although “Trauma is a fact of life, it doesn’t have to be a life sentence”. |
How it works:
The SE 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. This is approached by gently guiding clients to develop increasing tolerance for difficult bodily sensations and suppressed emotions.
Signs of Trauma*:
* From Healing Trauma by Peter A. Levine, PhD |