Treatments · Therapies
Somatic experiencing and other body-based trauma therapies
The Somatic Experiencing International overview, plus honest caveats about an evidence base that is growing but uneven.
Somatic Experiencing International6 min read
Somatic experiencing, developed by Peter Levine, organizes trauma treatment around the body's autonomic responses rather than the narrative content of the trauma. It is one of the more popular body-based modalities; the published evidence is promising but considerably smaller than for CBT-family trauma therapies.
Worth understanding on its own terms, and worth pairing with a first-line option (prolonged exposure, CPT, or EMDR) when the trauma is severe.
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A note on this article
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