Also known as Somatic Experiencing Therapy, Somatic Therapy aims to treat PTSD and other mental and emotional health issues through the connection of mind and body. This body-centric approach works by helping to release stress, tension, and trauma from the body.

What is Somatic Therapy?

Somatic therapy utilises a range of techniques, guiding the patient to reconnect with their own mind-body in a controlled state. ​ ​​ ​ Somatic therapy can include talking, visualisation, breathwork, meditation, massage, grounding, body awareness, movement...

History

Wilhelm Reich founded somatic psychotherapy in the early 1900s, where he discovered that trauma stretches beyond our minds, and manifests into bodily pains and dis-ease. What he referred to as “body armour”, he believed that symptoms such as inflammation, pain, muscular tension, and other reactions within the body shielded us against traumatic experiences. Alexander Lowen and John Pierrakos later built upon Reich's ideas, coining the term 'bioenergetics', which is concerned with the energy involved in making and breaking of chemical bonds in the molecules found in biological organisms. ​ ​​ ​ In 1994, Stephen Porges proposed the 'Polyvagal Theory', a theory that links the evolution of the human autonomic nervous system to social behaviour and physiological states. Polyvagal theory explores the two parts which make up our parasympathetic nervous system: our ventral vagal system which is responsible for social engagement which we learn through our childhood, and the dorsal vagal system which supports immobilisation behaviours, both the "rest and digest" and defensive "shutdown". ​​ ​ ​ Peter. A. Levine then went on to develop the Somatic Experiencing® method, a body-oriented approach to healing trauma and other stress disorders.