Somatic Experiencing

Somatic experiencing is a part of trauma therapy which can be used to treat depression, body memories, flashbacks, panic attacks, stress, etc. Since PTSD can express itself in many ways, trauma treatment has to be able to work on many various symptoms. Somatic psychology is a form of alternative medicine that focuses on somatic experience, and the embodied self, including therapeutic and holistic approaches to body. A wide variety of techniques are used in somatic psychotherapy including sound, touch, mirroring, movement and breath. An individual records life experience during a pre- and nonverbal period differently than during a verbalized and personal narrative period. Working with the client's implicit knowing of these early experiences, somatic psychology includes the non-verbal qualities that mark most human communication, especially in the first years of life. This understanding of consciousness, communication and mind-body language challenges some traditional applications of the talking cure.