What is trauma and what does trauma therapy do?

In Somatic Experiencing Trauma Therapy, we assume that traumatic and stressful experiences are stored as tension in our nervous system and can consequently lead to psychological and physical symptoms. Unresolved traumatic experiences often manifest as entrenched behavioral patterns, unconscious avoidance strategies, or certain moods that recur.

Trauma is not necessarily a shocking experience such as an accident, a sudden loss, or an attack. The term also includes developmental and attachment trauma, which can arise, for example, when the relationship with a parent was never secure and the nervous system has learned to be constantly on alert. Such overwhelming experiences can also result in feelings of shame and indifference in a person, which can even lead to avoidance and thus to loss of contact.

Trauma is also viewed as a loss of connection. As a loss of connection to ourselves, to our bodies, to our families or other people, or even to the world around us. Trauma healing therefore also means rediscovering connection.

My basic assumption as a Somatic Experiencing trauma therapist is that humans have the natural ability to recover from stressful and threatening events. Peter Levine developed a method in which, in therapy, attention is focused particularly on physical sensations, emotions, images, and small movements. By oscillating between positive present experiences and resources and returning to the previous, stressful situation, tension and blockages can be gently released. In this way, the bound energy is slowly released step by step. The stressful event from the past can be renegotiated and integrated. The unfinished process, stored as tension in our nervous system, can be completed through the careful approach of therapy, enabling the body to bring the response to threat to a natural conclusion. Psychological and physical symptoms can gradually resolve as a result.

Who benefits from trauma therapy?

Online Somatic Experiencing therapy is generally suitable for anyone suffering from symptoms such as inner tension, anxiety, sleep disturbances, obsessive-compulsive disorder, hyperarousal, rumination, exhaustion, lack of motivation, social withdrawal, or dissociation. Physical symptoms such as headaches, digestive problems, tension, rapid heartbeat, breathing difficulties, etc. are also common. All of these complaints are signs of an unregulated or stressed nervous system.

The method I use can help when there is a clearly identifiable traumatic event. However, it is not necessary to know about a specific event in order to benefit from trauma therapy. Somatic Experiencing can also be very helpful in cases where memory is absent or only fragmentary. For example, in the case of attachment or developmental trauma, there is often no concrete memory at all, as the trauma may have arisen from many “small” repetitive or diverse “small” situations. Somatic Experiencing Trauma Therapy also helps when words are lacking or difficult to express because the events were too overwhelming.

It is not necessary to recount past events in detail and bring them back to consciousness, because in therapy we work in small steps and focus on sensations in the here and now.