Somatic Experiencing: A Healing Approach To A More Balanced Life

By Karen Caffrey, LPC, Sherry Osadchey, LMFT, Eileen Stecker, LPC and Gail Rosenfeld, LPC

We all need and want to feel calm, balanced and at ease in our bodies and minds. When we feel this way, we are able to live healthily, easily and fluidly. The wonderful thing about our body/mind system is that when it’s working in balance, we usually have to pay very little attention to it for it to operate beautifully. Our bodies are hard-wired to breathe, digest, eliminate and move in certain ways without our conscious attention. Think how much effort it would take if we had to concentrate on digesting every meal!

Our autonomic nervous system (ANS) (think “automatic”, like an automatic pilot) is part of what creates this balanced, regulated experience. All mammals have an ANS. It is what allows them (and us) to respond rapidly to threats in the environment, and then re-balance our systems after the threat has passed.

Imagine an antelope grazing on the plains. A lion, with its massive strength and speed, races in for the kill. The antelope’s ANS causes it to startle, identify the location of the threat, evaluate its options for addressing the threat, and then (following its instinct) choose to flee. Perhaps this time it escapes. Or perhaps it cannot elude the lion, and drops to the ground in a freeze at the last minute. The lion, secure in its success, leaves to call in the rest of the pride to share in the kill. The antelope starts to tremble, dissipating the excess energy that was activated in its race for life, and standing once again, is ready to race off to safety while the lion is gone.

A wild animal like the antelope is unlikely to experience an ongoing traumatic reaction to this event. Yet a human who experienced something similar to this might well develop what we consider symptoms of continuing stress. After a life –threatening event such as this, (or even an event that a human simply perceives as life threatening or unsafe), a human might begin to obsess about lions. When will the next one show up on the plain? Will I be able to escape? Will it kill me? The human might begin to startle easily, and be jumpy, or become highly vigilant and unable to relax. Perhaps he or she would be afraid to venture very far, or become anxious or depressed. A whole variety of what are commonly identified as symptoms or stress or trauma might develop.

Why is it that humans can become traumatized while animals in the wild recover naturally from these kinds of events? This is the question that initiated an extensive journey for Peter Levine PhD, and culminated in a healing approach taught now around the world: an approach that has proven beneficial for those dealing with the spectrum of human experience ranging from ordinary stress to severe trauma. This approach was named Somatic Experiencing by Levine. Its success comes from an understanding of how the brain and nervous system are hard-wired to manage the challenges of life’s stressors, and how to tap into the original hard wiring when the system gets out of balance.

The ANS that humans have in common with all mammals is directed by a primitive part of our brain that operates on instinct, not intellect. It is constantly working away below our level of consciousness. It reacts to everyday stresses and situations by revving up our bodies, hormones and attention. When we feel frightened or angry, even if our lives are not actually in danger (like the example of the antelope), we want to run or fight just like those species that are lower on the evolutionary scale. This process can go on over something as incidental as an unexpected siren or loud noise, to a major event such as a car accident, a fall or a heated argument with your friend or partner.

The primitive part of our brain gets “alarmed” (like a smoke alarm is designed to alert us) and relays the call to action to our nervous system. We are designed to dissipate the call to action that happens in our physiology when it is recognized that the loud noise isn’t dangerous, we made it through the fall or accident, and the phone call is just a friend, not a lion about to eat us. Our ANS then discharges the build-up of tension, returning to baseline when things return to normal

Yet sometimes, our ANS gets overwhelmed and dysregulated. There are several possible reasons for this. It may be that an event has occurred that is more than it can handle at once. Or perhaps a series of events or situations have accumulated over time. When this happens, we can get stuck in old thoughts, feelings, body sensations or emotions, and feel unable to move on. As time passes and the event(s) is farther and farther in the past, we can even lose conscious touch with what caused this dysregulation in the first place.

The ANS can also get dysregulated as a result of our interactions with others, either from our past or present. For example, if as children we felt unsafe or insecure in our families, this may impact the level of regulation in our ANS. Difficult or challenging childhood experiences can also have impact. Sometimes things we typically think of as routine have an unrecognized, far-reaching effect. A significant event such as a major argument, a breach of trust or a perceived emotional or physical threat from someone we are close to can also be a factor.

How can you recognize the symptoms of a dysregulated ANS? Let’s take the simple example of an unexpected phone call in the middle of the night that startles you awake. The next day you’ve forgotten about the call, but you feel “off” or disoriented. Or perhaps you’ve suffered a more serious physical trauma such as a car accident or an assault. You may find you have repetitive thoughts or recurring feelings about it, accompanied by physical pain or other symptoms. Or you may in general find that you feel angry or anxious often or all the time, without having an explanation for it. You might have an unusually high level of vigilance, or easily startle. The extreme of this is someone who actually experiences post-traumatic stress disorder after a life-threatening event.

Of course, very generally it can be said that all types of psychotherapy are designed to increase internal balance. As therapists, we are always seeking to find ways to help clients become more regulated. What makes Somatic Experiencing (SE) different is that it specifically targets the autonomic nervous system, which is below the level of conscious control. Somatic Experiencing works to provide the conditions that allow your ANS to restore its innate capacity to self-regulate, while teaching you to self-regulate by learning how to create these conditions yourself. SE sessions tend to be slow and gentle, in part to allow the ANS the time it needs to re-negotiate the stressful or traumatic event, consciously remembered or not, in which adequate time to respond was not available. This is the case with many stressful events, which by their nature often happen without warning. A great deal of attention is also paid to ensuring that the nervous system does not get re-traumatized or overwhelmed, both by going slowly and by accessing emotional and physical resources innate or cultivated in the particular individual.

SE is a somewhat new healing modality, and the research being done on its effectiveness has only recently begun. What has been discovered so far is very encouraging. A team of SE practitioners traveled to South Asia six months after the tsunami in December, 2004 to offer SE to survivors. Initial findings from follow up research conducted four weeks after treatments indicate significant reduction in trauma symptoms in a majority of adults treated, even with single treatments. Other research showing the effectiveness of SE has been completed and is awaiting publication.

Gail Rosenfeld, LPC, Eileen Stecker, LPC, Sherry Osadchey, LMFT and Karen Caffrey, LPC are psychotherapists in private practice in West Hartford and Farmington. They each have extensive training in body-centered psychotherapy and are certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioners. In addition to their shared backgrounds, they also bring their own unique styles and modalities, including sand tray therapy, imagery, EMDR, spirituality and mindfulness based practices, and pre- and peri-natal psychology and trauma. Gail can be reached at 860-313-4440, or at www.gailrosenfeld.com. Eileen can be reached at 860-313-4448 and www.eileenstecker.com. Sherry can be reached at 860-677-5300 and www.sherryosadchey.com. Karen can be reached at 860-313-0039 and www.karencaffrey.com.