Somatic Therapy: UK Resources And Techniques For Trauma Support

Stress and trauma can be difficult emotions to deal with in everyday life, affecting relationships, work, and home life. Today, innovative forms of healthcare such as somatic therapy are being used to help people deal with stress, trauma, and difficult emotions. Below, explore the trauma-informed modality of somatic treatment in more depth to decide if it’s a good fit for you.

What is somatic therapy?

What techniques are used in somatic therapy? UK and beyond

Because somatic methods are an alternative therapeutic approach, clients may wonder how it’s possible to use body-centred attention and awareness to access and heal emotions in the body, especially if they’re used to focusing on cognitive and emotional processes. However, since bodily sensations are connected to emotions, using attention and awareness can be helpful to better understand what your body might be telling you. For example, if you have severe trauma, you might struggle to know when you’re hungry, in pain, or sad. 

Therapists may encourage you to feel and “be with” your emotions rather than labelling them. Paying attention to bodily sensations such as warmth, tightness, heaviness, and tension may help you release and process them. Studies show that body-centred awareness and brief mindfulness meditation can help you to process emotions. Some somatic techniques therapists use to facilitate awareness and mindfulness include:

• Visualization to create a safe atmosphere for you to connect with yourself
• Sensory grounding to anchor and connect to the present moment
• Dance to creatively express yourself
• Somatic exercises and gentle movement to release tension
• Deep breathing to increase awareness and calm the body and mind 

Can you foster self-awareness with somatic therapy? UK and beyond

Because clients often practice mindfulness, deep breathing, and various exercises to enhance the body-mind connection during somatic treatment sessions, their self-awareness may naturally increase. After a few sessions with a therapist, you may find connecting with physical sensations and exploring feelings through the body easier. 

How somatic therapy works compared to traditional talk therapy

While the importance of traditional talk therapy should not be neglected, somatic therapy works in a different way that can also be extremely effective for many people. While talk therapy uses mental and emotional processes to work through emotions, therapeutic work with somatic therapy involves honing a keen attention on how the cognitive processes of the brain evoke responses in the body. Once this connection is identified and recognized, then many techniques can be used to hack this response and help the body and mind to feel safe. 

Types of somatic therapy for stress and trauma relief

Somatic therapy is an umbrella term for body psychotherapy, an approach that uses the body to relieve stress, trauma, and negative emotions, enhancing overall well-being. It may be used alone or in conjunction with other therapies to facilitate the healing process. If you are dealing with stress or trauma, you can explore the following options.

Somatic experiencing

Often, when therapists discuss somatic therapy, they refer to somatic experiences. This process involves the tracking of bodily sensations throughout the body. During somatic experiences, a somatic experiencing practitioner may guide you through visualization techniques to explore your trauma while continuing to notice what happens in your body. They may then teach you coping skills to release pent-up trauma and stress, and facilitate the healing process, such as mindfulness exercises. 

Somatic experiencing has been a relieving practice for many individuals, including therapists. Over time, therapists who attended somatic experience training experienced improvements in resiliency, quality of life, and psychological well-being. In these cases, therapists are able to pass on personal, first-hand knowledge and experience of somatic therapy.

Eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)

Another active form of counselling, eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), helps people process traumatic events. This practice involves visualization of traumatic memories while simultaneously moving your eyes in specific ways or moving an item back and forth between your hands, as guided by your therapist. These rapid eye movements mirror those made in the REM cycle of sleep and are believed to help you relate to the memory in a different way. 

For people living with comorbid psychiatric disorders, EMDR could be useful for treating trauma-related symptoms. Many people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are diagnosed with other psychiatric disorders and mental health challenges. For this reason, they may find more relief with EMDR than other modalities. However, what works for one person might not work for another, so consult a therapist before choosing a modality. 

Sensorimotor therapy

Sensorimotor therapy combines somatic experiencing therapy with other therapies/practices, such as cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT). This combination may help clients process stressful or traumatic experiences on the body and mind level, rather than only focusing on cognitive processes or physical sensations alone. This method is often used for those living with intense physical symptoms, an overactive fight, flight, or freeze response, chronic pain, or ailments.

Somatic experiencing for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Somatic therapy for the nervous system

Trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, and the nervous system

What somatic therapy helps with: from anxiety and depression, to trauma and addiction

While somatic therapy is best known for treating trauma-based disorders like PTSD, some evidence has shown that it can also be an effective treatment for other mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, and addiction. It may also help manage difficult emotions that arise from trauma response, such as anger, grief, or fear. Somatic practices, either alone or with other talk therapy approaches, can help clients build resilience to stress. 

Training, ethics, and professional standards in the UK

Somatic therapy practice, along with all other evidence-based forms of psychotherapy, has standards and an ethical framework that ensure clients are receiving quality care. Therapists and counsellors must earn at minimum a master’s degree in psychology or related areas like counselling, as well as follow specific accredited pathways to practice. Once they have received the proper education, they must practice under supervision and follow professional standards set by the British Psychological Society, a British association that offers the most up-to-date practice standards. 

The benefits of online therapy in the UK

The number of people in the UK experiencing PTSD has risen in recent years. Events of social unrest and the COVID-19 pandemic may have played a role in increasing traumatic life experiences. Therefore, affordable therapy is becoming increasingly important nationwide. The importance of therapeutic work in helping to build resilience and facilitate the healing process should not be overlooked. Online therapy is a convenient and accessible way for many to get the help they need. The flexible scheduling of online therapy may allow clients to alter appointments around their lifestyles. Companies like BetterHelp also offer sliding scale pricing, basing the cost of sessions on your income. This option gives more clients the chance to prioritize health and well-being.