SOMATIC EXPERIENCE

A MODEL OF CARE FOR TRAUMATIC EVENTS

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"It is not the event itself that produces the traumatic symptoms.

They occur when the energy left unused during the traumatic experience is not released from the body.

This energy gets trapped in the nervous system causing havoc in the body and mind.

The trauma lodges itself within the nervous system, keeping it alert and making it lose its flexibility."

Peter Levine

 

Somatic Experiencing, developed by Dr. Peter A. Levine, is an approach to treating traumatic symptoms. It is a non-invasive and gradual method for the resolution of various types of shock and trauma and for the work on post-traumatic stress disorder. 

It bases its effectiveness on the activation of the traumatized person's resources and on the natural ability that our nervous system possesses to gradually restore its internal balance, discharging the enormous stress accumulated during the traumatic experience.

 

“Trauma occurs when the organism is subjected to a stress greater than any of its ability to adapt necessary to regulate the states of activation.

The (traumatized) nervous system becomes disorganized, stops functioning and is no longer able to recover. 

This condition manifests itself in a global fixation and in a fundamental loss of the rhythmic  ability to self-regulate arousal, to orient oneself, to be in the present

and to flow with life.”

Peter Levine

 

The trauma remains fixed within the body.

This happens because the traumatic response of each individual is a freezing response: there is something that remains blocked and that cannot be eliminated. 

 

The trauma, lo shock, therefore they take place when our natural defensive responses are largely oppressed, buried, interrupted, confused or dominated.

 

 

By allowing this frozen response to melt, the trauma can gradually be absorbed and integrated into one's experience as a wound, but a wound that no longer hurts so much.

 

In this way, enormous energy is released from the body which, in order to survive, would naturally lead it to react (flee or fight).

 

The body is thus able to return to the normal state of relaxation.

 

 

For further information, I refer you to the in-depth information on our site, in particular on:

• certain discoveries made in the scientific field on the fact that THE TRAUMAS OF FATHERS FALL ON THE CHILDREN.