Anyone ever tried somatic trauma therapy?

[Breadandroses]

My counsellor gave me some books to read. The Body Keeps The Score and wakingvthe Tiger.

He suggested somatic therapy. I said no…but I keep doing that…saying no! I m afraid of new things right now. It’s becoming a habit again. I want everything predictable.

Just wondering.

[Twisted Sister]

Hi Breadandroses

That sounds interesting. Do the books he gave you give any indication of how this would fit for you?

Interacting in a therapeutic process is very individual, something you will need to slowly build your trust and confidence in, including the right fit in the form of the therapist you work with. None of us get on with everyone, and choosing the right fit for your therapy is fundamental to your success.

There is nothing wrong with investigating what each therapy offers before you commit to anything, but also, it needs to feel the opposite of coercive in any way of course! That you can walk away at any time, and a lot of therapy, I feel personally, in our situation relates to being able to speak to someone, to confide, trust, and build confidence within a safe relationship.

I believe research to have shown that often a combination of therapies seems to be the most successful overall, as in no one specialism offers all the answers to everyone. Having ‘trauma’ in the descriptor is obviously a very good start.

I’d be very interested to hear what your thoughts are on it after you have dipped into the books.

There is also a service that you can link to from this site called Bloom; if you look under the heading of Support & Signposting, you will see their contact details, and it may be that even if you don’t wish to go that route with them, they may have valuable expertise to offer insights into other forms of therapy, such as this one?

warmest wishes

ts

[Breadandroses]

Hi ts

I read Waking The Tiger. It made sense to me and I related to it. It is essentially saying that trauma gets trapped in the body when we stop the process of physically allowing our bodies and stress system to respond e g. Shake it out.

I had told him my first experience of a flashback and physical response to it. I can talk about that specific memory though reasonably easily because i was with someone who (removed by moderator) strange as that seems and they talked to me about muscle memory and encouraged me to just let the shaking happen and go in its own time. When I read the book I was like oh!

I don’t know the therapy sounds like that really. You relive it but are helped to process it correctly. I said I was wanting to avoid those really strong physical reactions now incase they didn’t go away. It is a while now since I had sudden flight response or very strong startle reflex. I still startle easily but I don’t run. I don’t get shaking or crying bouts either now.and I don’t get the weird paranoias once it starts although i am increasingly avoidant.I was very ill a few years ago.
I said to my counsellor what if I get triggered and it doesn’t work and it just starts a really bad episode. So he was fine with that and just asked if I wanted to carry on with what we were doing and that was it. I am feeling no pressure.
It s just I don’t want to live like this anymore. I get very physical psychosomatic pains and digestive issues etc. I wake up unable to walk straight some days with back pain and then it just stops for months. The idea they could go is very tempting.
But in the book the way it was described was as if clients had 1 thing to get over. 1 crash, 1 rape, 1 life threatening occurance. What if you have had several. To be fair to my counsellor I haven’t told him lots. (Detail removed by moderator)Which I think is true and I have said I simply can’t say some things out loud which also worries me that you have to describe some things in this therapy but i have done that on here but in my counselling now I don’t have to. I dissociate you sèe and I don’t do it very often now and I don’t want that back.
But today I felt like…something needs to change here. I am being a bit helpless at the moment and giving up easily and I would say a bit woe is me..which I hate. I am struggling really after a long good spell…which makes you forget.
I have had a few unexpected knocks recently and a long term stressful issue ongoing. I tried to be preventative and go to counselling but it is harder than I thought and that has surprised me…I thought I had dealt with some things that seem to have come back. Forgetting/denial isn’t the same as healing I suppose.

Thank you for replying. I m a little indecisive and wobbly right now I just want someone to tell me what to do…which is not good!! I will look at that site . Thankyou again x*x

[Purplecupcake]

Hi, breadandRoses

Sorry to hear that you’ve been struggling emotionally, it sounds like you’re going through a tough time.

I’ve done a few somatic sessions with my counsellor and found it extremely helpful. Although it can be difficult feeling vulnerable, and speaking about traumatic events. My counsellor never pushed me to speak about anything I wasn’t comfortable with, I never had to disclose any details about what happened unless I wanted to. It was mostly focused on my emotions at that moment in time, I’m not sure if other counsellors do it differently, but for me it wasn’t like reliving the experience, It was more like I was watching the event.

Yes, this does work for multiple events, not just one life changing event. In my sessions, my counsellor not only asked how I was feeling during these moments, but also asked me if there are any other times in my life I have felt that way, allowing me to explore other events that have happened, and also this way i was able to unlock new memories that I had subconsciously suppressed.

It isn’t easy opening up about these sort of things, especially if it is a complete stranger. I’m not sure if there is an easy way to heal from trauma or abuse, but not healing could potentially result in a lifetime of emotional psychological and physical pain. That’s not to say that somatic therapy is for everyone, but I hope this answers a few of the questions that you had. I do think a lot of it depends on the individual therapist or counsellor and finding someone who works well for you.

[Breadandroses]

Hi purplecupcake

Wow thank you so much. That does answer so much.

An issue I have is that I started dissaciating when I was a child. I still detach and become numb for periods of time. I don’t know if I know how I felt I was like a zombie inside.

Coming on here I saw a post and all of a sudden it was like wow…I remember. But what I remembered was just the sheer exhaustion I felt the neverendingness. Is that an emotion?

I think my counsellor is helping me label stuff but I am so bad at articulating it I rely on happy, sad, frustrated and angry! We advanced to I m feeling happy and sad together the other week!

I will talk to him more about this. I gave a very firm no to the idea and he doesn’t push me ATM as it has been tough recently. Also I keep going back saying actually…..! Lol and then I do it again!

This has been so helpful and positive
Thank you

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