Somatic Treatment
Somatic treatment, also referred to as Somatic therapy, is based on the connection between the mind and body, and focuses on how physical sensations and movements are related to your mental health and emotional well-being. The term “Somatic” comes from the Greek word for “body,” therefore Somatic Therapies address psychological issues by working with bodily experiences like tension, posture, or trauma that has been stored in the body.
Somatic therapy is often used in combination with other forms of therapy to provide comprehensive treatment for mental health issues including trauma, anxiety disorders or emotional dysregulation.
What Makes Somatic Treatment Different?
Somatic treatment stands out from other types of therapy because it emphasizes the body-mind connection, treating emotional and psychological issues through the lens of bodily experience, offering a more integrated approach to healing that considers both the mind and the body. Somatic therapy is a gentler approach to therapy because it is paced at the individual client’s body-threshold instead of following a standardized treatment protocol. Somatic therapy improves cognition, behaviors, and emotion regulation.
Differences Between Somatic Treatment and Traditional Therapy
Somatic Treatment: Focuses on how emotional and psychological issues manifest in the body. Therapists encourage clients to become aware of physical sensations, such as tension, pain, or discomfort, that may be connected to unresolved trauma or emotions.
Traditional Talk Therapy: Typically focuses on discussing emotions, thoughts, and past experiences without placing as much emphasis on physical sensations or bodily responses.
Somatic Treatment: Clients are asked to notice and explore their bodily responses (e.g., muscle tightness, changes in breathing, or posture) to emotions or memories. The idea is that addressing these physical symptoms the body holds onto like stress, trauma, and other psychological issues, can lead to emotional healing.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Focuses more on changing thought patterns and behaviors rather than bodily experiences by identifying and altering negative thoughts and cognitive distortions. It doesn’t typically address how those thoughts might be physically expressed in the body.
Somatic Treatment: Is very effective for trauma because it addresses the way trauma is stored in the body. Techniques like breathing exercises, movement, and touch therapy help release stored tension and trauma that talking alone may not resolve.
Psychodynamic Therapy: Focuses more on uncovering unconscious conflicts and childhood experiences but may not directly address how these conflicts are expressed physically.
Somatic Treatment: Treats the individual as a whole, integrating both physical and mental health, restoring balance between the mind and body by releasing both emotional and physical tension.
Other Therapies: Many traditional therapies focus primarily on mental or emotional healing, without integrating the body’s role. They work more on changing thought patterns (e.g., CBT) or exploring the past (e.g., psychodynamic therapy) without the same emphasis on the physical body.
Somatic Treatment: Includes techniques like grounding exercises, breathing techniques, movement, and sometimes gentle touch. These interventions are aimed at engaging the body’s natural healing mechanisms and releasing stored stress.
Other Therapies: Many therapies rely more on verbal communication, analysis of thoughts, or emotional catharsis without involving physical exercises or body-based practices.
Somatic Treatment: Is particularly effective for trauma, anxiety, and PTSD, as it addresses how trauma can cause the body to remain in a heightened state of stress (fight-or-flight response). Somatic techniques aim to calm the nervous system and release trauma stored in the body.
Other Therapies: While other therapies (such as trauma-focused CBT or EMDR) also address trauma, they may not specifically target how trauma manifests in the body as somatic therapy does.
Somatic Treatment: Encourages clients to focus on the present, particularly their current bodily sensations, to access emotions or memories stored in the body.
Other Therapies: Many therapies, such as psychodynamic therapy or even certain types of CBT, may delve more into the past or future without the same level of focus on present-moment bodily awareness.
If your suffering from trauma and traditional talk therapy hasn’t helped you then schedule a Somatic Treatment session with Dr. Crawford by clicking the button below and begin your journey to relief.