Somatic Psychology: Meaning and Origins

One of the most distinctive forms of psychology today is none other than somatic psychology — relying on the knowledge that the mind and body are interconnected. Read on to learn more about this fascinating type of psychology to see what it can do for you.

Somatic Psychology - The Call of the Body

Your body can store trauma. This was the radical claim of Wilheim Reich, a student of Sigmund Freud. He proposed in his book “Character analysis,” published in 1933 that trauma stretches beyond our minds and could lead to inflammation, pain, muscular tension, and other reactions within the body. Repressed thoughts and emotions might be the culprits behind seemingly physiologically rooted symptoms.

Reich believed these symptoms are the “body armor” that would defend us against traumatic experiences. His breakthroughs lead to a new way of approaching mental and physical issues, embracing the connection between the mind and body, the somatic psychology.

What Is Somatic Psychology?

Become aware of your body’s needs.

Somatic psychology is a form of body-oriented therapy that uses techniques and holistic approaches to help alleviate a patient’s mental and physical issues. Thomas  Louis Hanna, a philosophy professor, and movement theorist, defined somatics as the experiential study of the body. ¹

Pierre Janet, considered one of the first somatic psychologists, proposed that the trauma-related impressions which have bypassed consciousness continue to plague the individual as internalized but unrecognized memories. These memories can take the form of psychosomatic symptoms.²

Somatic psychology practitioners educate people to become aware of their health status and practice corrective techniques, such as breathwork, helping them become conscious of the subtle bodily process. Somatic psychotherapy can help people access symbols and unconscious messages locked in the body, resolving blockages that are a consequence of traumatic experiences.

How Somatic Psychology Works

The field of somatic therapy uses integrative approaches, operating with both physical and talk therapy, to help patients develop an awareness of their repressed thoughts and emotions, regulate their stress levels, and move past traumatic experiences.

A person who experienced a traumatic event can be stuck in a continuous fight or flight mode, which is an automatic physiological reaction that activates the sympathetic nervous system. The activation triggers a stress response preparing the body to fight or flee.

Activating the fight or flight response will make your body experience high cortisol levels, increased heart rate, tense muscles, and various other physiological reactions. This response can be normal, given a real threat. However, constantly living in such a condition might lead to psychosomatic issues. In some cases, the reaction triggered by the traumatic events can be more severe, leading to illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

There are various somatic approaches or frameworks for practicing psychosomatic therapy, such as sensorimotor psychotherapy, biodynamic psychotherapy, bioenergetic analysis, and others. However, the most common one is known as somatic experiencing (SE).

The main goal of SE is to modify the trauma-related stress response. Clients are trained to gradually diminish the arousal associated with trauma by increasingly tolerating and accepting the inner physical sensations and related emotions and activating internal and external resources, such as identifying parts of the body or memories associated with a positive and reassuring feeling.³

Another framework that has some similarities to SE but also crucial differences, used by somatic therapists, is sensorimotor psychotherapy. During sensorimotor psychotherapy sessions, clients are taught to distinguish between trauma-based emotions and physical sensations by cultivating awareness of their differences. Being aware of their differences facilitates the processing of unassimilated sensorimotor reactions to trauma and resolving these reactions' destructive effects on cognitive and emotional experience.⁴

The bioenergetic analysis is a somatic psychotherapeutic framework that involves assessing and intervening in the emotional realm through bodily movement experience. The underlying assumption within this framework is that significant life experiences are not only preserved in the mind but also in body language, movement, and breathing. This is because the mental, emotional and physical processes are intertwined.⁵

In addition to the various somatic psychology frameworks that aim to improve the mental health of individuals, there is also a large variety of techniques with the same goal. Here are some examples:

• Mindfulness. A state of non-judgemental present-focused awareness of the totality of experience, attending it moment by moment. This practice teaches people to experience their thoughts and emotions without being overwhelmed, and it clears the blockages within the mind and body.⁶
• Grounding. People tend to constantly be caught up in their thoughts and emotions, especially someone who suffered from a traumatic experience. This method helps people regain the ability to be “here and now,” connecting with the present moment through various actions such as sitting with your bare feet on the ground.
• Movement. This technique is at the core of dance/movement therapy, which helps people achieve optimal emotional, physical, and cognitive balance through dance movements. It can help reduce stress, improve coordination and mobility, and relieve muscular tension.

Somatic psychotherapy is approached through a variety of ways and techniques. However, at its core, it is a body-centered form of therapy with the goal of helping people gain awareness of their bodies and awaken their capacity to heal by illuminating the mind-body connection.

Evidence Supporting Somatic Psychology

In a meta-analysis including 113 studies and 18 randomized clinical trials, somatic psychotherapy has been found beneficial for a broad spectrum of mental ailments.⁷

In another clinical-randomized study that had 63 participants suffering from PTSD, the somatic experience therapy was shown to have positive results, reducing the severity of their symptoms.⁸

A study including 31 psychiatric patients showed that dance therapy lowered their levels of depression. Furthermore, research from the American Journal of Dance Therapy shows that a dance prevention program helped 54 participants increase their pro-social behaviors and decrease their levels of aggression. ⁹⁻¹⁰

In a randomized clinical trial with 16 participants, the practice of grounding led to reduced pain, increased physical function, and better mood levels.¹¹A review of 20 studies concluded that grounding is linked to significant physiological improvements, and it should be included as a preventive, alternative, and lifestyle medicine practice, potentially making these approaches more effective.¹²

Answering the Call of the Body

You can heal yourself

For a long while, most people assumed that psychological issues start and end with the mind. However, the field of somatic psychology, which began with the insights of great thinkers such as Wilheim Reich or Pierre Janet, showed that there might be a deeper connection between the problems of the mind and the body than we previously imagined.

Your body tries to protect you and stores some pain and emotional damage caused by traumatic experiences. Nonetheless, it needs your help to heal that damage. It calls you through various psychosomatic symptoms such as inflammation, muscular tension, fatigue, and others.

The practitioners of somatic therapy act as guides that help you hear the body's call. They teach you how to strengthen your mind-body connection and find the resources from within that lead to healing yourself.

Whether you are interested in the private practice around somatic psychotherapy, becoming a clinical psychologist, or research, you can check out our Graduate School of Psychology or speak with an Admission Advisor to learn more about our programs.

References:

1. Hartley, L., & Hartley, L. (2004). Somatic psychology: Body, mind, and meaning. London: Whurr.
2. Van der Kolk, B. A., & Van der Hart, O. (1989). Pierre Janet and the breakdown of adaptation in psychological trauma. American Journal of Psychiatry, 146(12), 1530-1540.
3. Baumann, N., Kuhfuß, M., Maldei, T., & Hetmanek, A. (2021). Somatic experiencing–effectiveness and key factors of body-oriented trauma therapy: a scoping literature review.
4. Phase, H., & Valentine, N. (2000). One Method for Processing Traumatic Memory. Traumatology, 6(3).
5. Guest, D., Parker, J., & Williams, S. L. (2019). Development of modern bioenergetic analysis. Body, Movement, and Dance in Psychotherapy, 14(4), 264-276.
6. Ganesan, A., Gauthaman, J., & Kumar, G. (2022). The Impact of Mindfulness Meditation on the Psychosomatic Spectrum of Oral Diseases: Mapping the Evidence. Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 12(1), 1.
7. Rosendahl, S., Sattel, H., & Lahmann, C. (2021). Effectiveness of Body Psychotherapy. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in psychiatry, 1486.
8. Brom, D., Stokar, Y., Lawi, C., Nuriel Porat, V., Ziv, Y., Lerner, K., & Ross, G. (2017). Somatic experiencing for posttraumatic stress disorder: A randomized controlled outcome study. Journal of traumatic stress, 30(3), 304-312.
9. Koch, S. C., Morlinghaus, K., & Fuchs, T. (2007). The joy dance: Specific effects of a single dance intervention on psychiatric patients with depression. The arts in Psychotherapy, 34(4), 340-349.
10. Koshland, L., Wilson, J., & Wittaker, B. (2004). PEACE through dance/movement: Evaluating a violence prevention program. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 26(2), 69-90.
11. Chevalier, G., Patel, S., Weiss, L., Chopra, D., & Mills, P. J. (2019). The effects of grounding (earthing) on bodyworkers’ pain and overall quality of life: A randomized controlled trial. Explore, 15(3), 181-190.
12. Menigoz, W., Latz, T. T., Ely, R. A., Kamei, C., Melvin, G., & Sinatra, D. (2020). Integrative and lifestyle medicine strategies should include Earthing (grounding): Review of research evidence and clinical observations. Explore, 16(3), 152-160.

People also ask questions:

What is the meaning of somatic in psychology?

Somatic in psychology refers to something that comes from the body or is related to it.  However, the term somatic is mostly associated with the field of somatic psychology.

Somatic psychology is a form of body-oriented therapy that uses techniques and holistic approaches to help people gain awareness of the body and to heal themselves. Somatic psychology practitioners make their patients conscious of the mind-body connection through exercises such as breathwork. Somatic psychotherapy can help patients explore unconscious messages and symbols locked in the body, resolving blockages that are a consequence of traumatic experiences.

The somatic approaches are especially efficient for those who suffer from PTSD and are stuck in a continuous state of intense physiological arousal. This state can come with high-stress levels, difficulty sleeping, irritability, and more. It can help those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder overcome their traumas and be grounded in the present moment.

What is an example of a somatic treatment?

Somatic psychology practitioners educate people to become aware of their health status and practice corrective techniques, such as grounding, helping them reconnect with the present moment and become conscious of subtle bodily processes.

Other examples of somatic treatment techniques would be teaching patients to practice mindfulness and grounding.

Mindfulness is a type of meditation practice that involves being engaged with the present moment and any input that may be associated with it. Engaging with the stimuli found in the present moment should be made without judgment and attachment. This practice teaches people to experience their thoughts and emotions without being overwhelmed, and it clears the blockages within the mind and body.

Grounding can be an antidote for people caught up in their thoughts and emotions, especially someone who suffered from a traumatic experience. This method helps people regain the ability to reconnect with the present through various actions, such as sitting with bare feet on the ground.

What is the somatic approach?

Somatic approaches educate people to become aware of their health status and practice corrective techniques, such as breathwork, helping them become conscious of the subtle bodily process. They illuminate the mind-body connection and can help people access symbols and unconscious messages locked in the body, resolving blockages that are a consequence of traumatic experiences.

There are various somatic approaches for practicing psychosomatic therapy, such as sensorimotor psychotherapy, biodynamic psychotherapy, bioenergetic analysis, and others. However, the most common one is known as somatic experiencing (SE).

The main goal of SE is to modify the trauma-related stress response. Clients are taught how to gradually reduce the arousal caused by trauma through tolerating and embracing their internal bodily sensations and accompanying emotions.

This kind of therapy is particularly useful for those who suffer from PTSD, as they usually experience a consistent state of high physiological arousal that comes with various negative symptoms.

Who is the founder of somatic psychology?

Wilheim Reich is the founder of somatic psychology. He proposed in his book “Character analysis,” published in 1933 that trauma stretches beyond our minds and could lead to inflammation, pain, muscular tension, and other reactions within the body.

Reich believed these symptoms are the “body armor” that would shield us against traumatic experiences. His breakthroughs lead to a new way of approaching mental and physical issues, embracing the connection between the mind and body, the somatic psychology.

Pierre Janet, a philosopher, and a great thinker, also considered one of the first somatic psychologists, provided insights that helped establish the field of somatic psychology.

In similar lines with Reich’s thinking, he proposed that the trauma-related impressions which have bypassed consciousness continue to plague the individual as internalized but unrecognized memories. These memories can take the form of psychosomatic symptoms.

Thinkers like Reich and Janet established the foundations of somatic psychotherapy. Nevertheless, the field would evolve and include holistic approaches and various techniques to help people deepen their mind-body connection and find the resources from within that can lead to healing themselves.