HEALING THROUGH SOMATIC THERAPIES

by Gordon S. Bruin, MA, LCMHC

According to a 2017 article published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress, incorporating somatic therapy into healing protocols "shows positive results" in helping survivors of trauma heal. Somatic therapy studies the relationships between the mind and the body in regard to a person's past experience with trauma. The word “somatic” is derived from the Greek word soma, which means "living body." In Western medicine, we have not done an adequate job of treating the whole person. We've separated the mind from the body. We have medical doctors who specialize in treating physical problems and mental health professionals who specialize in treating emotional issues. Professionals are now recognizing the need to address the whole person--mind and body--for healing to occur. 

The theory behind somatic therapies is that negative experiences and trauma can affect the ANS (autonomic nervous system). Medical and mental health professionals now nearly universally agree that trauma can become “stuck” in the cells of the body, leaving a person in a constant state of stress. When in this state, the body cannot engage in the rest-and-renewal process once the traumatic event has ended.

The purpose of somatic therapy is to engage the body in a mindful way in order to free up the frozen cells and release the stress hormones in a natural way. Until this negative energy is released, the body may experience a number of issues, such as: constant illness, lingering aches and pains, digestive complaints, immune-system dysfunction, depression, anxiety, addiction, etc. It is by developing awareness of the mind-body connection through somatic experiences that the body can release the past, allowing one to live a more empowered life.

Somatic therapies are activities that focus on engaging the whole person (mind and body) in movement and action. Activities such as yoga, martial arts, self-defense classes, etc., help an individual establish a reconnection with their body. It is by "getting in touch with your body, by connecting viscerally with yourself, can you regain a sense of who you are, your values and priorities . . . . Imprints of the past can be transformed by having physical experiences that directly contradict the helplessness, rage and collapse that are a part of trauma, thereby regaining self-mastery" (Bessel Van der Kolk, "Somatic Experiencing for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Outcome Study.")

1 Danny Brom, 1 , 2 Yaffa Stokar, 1 Cathy Lawi, 3 Vered Nuriel‐Porat, 1 Yuval Ziv, 1 Karen Lerner, 4 and  Gina Ross 3