+442032398616
About Somatic Experiencing
The Somatic Experiencing® method is a body-oriented approach to the healing of trauma and other stress disorders. It is the life’s work of Dr. Peter A. Levine, resulting from his multidisciplinary study of stress physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics, together with over 45 years of successful clinical application. The SE approach releases traumatic shock, which is key to transforming PTSD and the wounds of emotional and early developmental attachment trauma.
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. What he discovered was that trauma has to do with the third survival response to perceived life threat, which is freeze. When fight and flight are not options, we freeze and immobilize, like “playing dead.” This makes us less of a target. However, this reaction is 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 shakes and trembling. If the immobility phase doesn’t complete, then that charge stays trapped, and, from the body’s perspective, it is still under threat. The Somatic Experiencing® method works to release this stored energy, and turn off this threat alarm that causes severe dysregulation and dissociation.
Peter Levine's explorations led him to look at way people process overwhelming feelings and, in particular, at the role played by the nervous system. He concluded that the symptoms commonly associated with trauma, such as anxiety, hyper-vigilance, mood swings, or disturbed sleep, are the result of a disruption in the proper functioning of the autonomic nervous system. This is the part of the nervous system responsible for regulating body functions such as heart rate, digestion, and the fight, flight or freeze response. This disruption is often brought about by an event that overwhelms the nervous system's capacity to cope; in other words, by an experience of trauma. As a result of the nervous system's inability to process and integrate the experience, the body continues to respond as if it is under threat.
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.
This information comes from the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute website and there is more to discover: