I am a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP). Somatic Experiencing is a body centered trauma resolution process developed by Peter Levine, PhD. It focuses on the body's natural ability to recover from the effects of traumatic experiences such as automobile accidents, attacks, , sexual attacks, developmental childhood abuse, war experiences, torture, or even disturbing sudden spiritual openings.
What is trauma?
Trauma is defined as any event or experience that is overwhelming to the nervous system's ability to integrate it.
Why can some people handle these experiences and others can't?
Somatic Experiencing focuses on the nervous system's response to high energy events. The nervous system integrates these experiences by going through five distinct stages. Upon completion, we have a sense of accomplishment and a stronger sense that "I can" handle these kinds of experiences.
Click on the picture of the Five Stages to enlarge it
Unfortunately, when we do not have the ability to handle high energy experiences, the nervous system gets stuck in one of the first three of the five stages of integration resulting in the conviction that "I can’t” handle this.
What are some of the symptoms of unresolved trauma?
The symptoms of unresolved trauma are quite varied and can include: hyper-senstivity to sound or light, emotional reactions such as anger or fear that are much more than the situation warrants, high levels of stress, sudden anxiety, memory loss, hyper-alertness, or a constant sense of danger or fear in normal situations. Also various physical symptoms can develop pain, numbness, sleep problems, digestive problems, shaking, trouble understanding, etc.
Can trauma be treated?
Fortunately, with the help of an SE practitioner new resources can be discovered or developed allowing the nervous system to "unstick". Then through further exploration the inbuilt five stage integration process can continue to completion. The result is the disappearance of traumatic symptoms and an increased sense of personal power and well being.
The diagram below shows some of the details of the Somatic Experiencing therapeutic journey .
