Somatic Experiencing ® and EMDR are treatment interventions that help individuals deal with emotional, psychological, and or physical trauma.
What is Emotional, Psychological, or Physical Trauma?
According to Dr. Peter Levine, “Trauma is perhaps the most avoided, ignored, belittled, denied, misunderstood, and untreated cause of human suffering”. He describes trauma as “anything that is too much or comes to fast”.
Bessel van der Kolk describes emotional trauma as “anything that overwhelms the body’s ability to cope.”
Trauma is not held in a single event but in the way the body is able to cope with the trauma. We become traumatize when our bodies do not have the ability to respond to a perceived overwhelming threat in a way that is helpful to the body. Our bodies are then stuck or frozen in a in a loop of overwhelming stress. Trauma can be very subtle and different for each individual and often symptoms of trauma, e.g. depression, anxiety, and PTSD do not show up until years after the original trauma event.
Trauma ultimately is about the loss of connection: loss of connection to our family, loss of connection to our friends, loss of connection to our environment and surroundings, and the most devastating loss is to ourselves and our soul.
Traumatic symptoms are not caused by the “triggering” event itself. They stem from the frozen residual of energy that had not been resolved or discharged; this residue remains trapped in the nervous system where it can wreak havoc on our bodies and spirit. ~ Dr. Peter Levine
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An event will mostly likely lead into an emotional trauma if: Common emotional symptoms of trauma are: Trauma will often show up as bodily symptoms such as: Overwhelming trauma will show up as: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a method of therapy for dealing with unresolved (stuck) trauma and distressing life events that often produces more rapid results than traditional talk therapy. Somatic Experiencing® (SE) is a short-term naturalistic approach to the resolution and healing of trauma developed by Dr. Peter Levine and is supported by research. It is based upon the observation that wild prey animals, though threatened routinely, are rarely traumatized. Animals in the wild utilize innate mechanisms to regulate and discharge the high levels of energy arousal associated with defensive survival behaviors. These mechanisms provide animals with a built-in “immunity’’ to trauma that enables them to return to normal in the aftermath of highly ‘’charged’’ life-threatening experiences. SE employs awareness of body sensation to help people “renegotiate” and heal rather than re-live or re-enact trauma. SE’s guidance of the bodily “felt sense,” allows the highly aroused survival energies to be safely experienced and gradually discharged. SE “titrates” experience (breaks down into small, incremental steps), rather than evoking catharsis – which can overwhelm the regulatory mechanisms of the organism. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a method of therapy for dealing with unresolved (stuck) trauma and distressing life events that often produces more rapid results than traditional talk therapy. Stacy is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP)What is Trauma?
What are the Emotional Symptoms of Trauma?
How does Trauma Show Up in the Body?
How Does Trauma Affect Our Spirituality?
What is EMDR?
What is Somatic Experiencing®?
What is EMDR?