Treating Trauma with Somatic Experiencing Principles

Guest Blog Contributed By Megan Ross LPC, R-DMT – Trauma Therapy Coordinator, Timberline Knolls

Recent Trauma Treatment Developments

Eating disorders are rarely the result of one experience or event. So many factors can be involved in the creation of an eating disorder such as perfectionism, pressure from peer groups, family expectations, etc.

However, it is not unusual for many of those who struggle with an eating disorder to share one issue in common: trauma. Recognizing this link between trauma and eating disorders, we recently integrated principles of somatic experiencing (SE) into our programming.

This therapeutic approach was first introduced in Waking the Tiger, a book by Dr. Peter Levine, and advances the notion that human beings are not quite as removed from the animal kingdom as once thought. Additionally, it suggests that trauma is a physiological, not psychological condition.

How Animals Deal with Life-Threatening Situations

SE is based on how animals in the wild deal with and recover from life-threatening situations. They rely on instinctual patterns that have served them well for centuries. When danger is introduced, animals automatically execute biologically-based reaction patterns. These survival responses are specific to the animal, and include:

• Freeze
• Fight
• Flight

Clearly, what is appropriate for the fawn is not applicable to the bear. Once the threat is eliminated, the critical final step of this process is executed by the animal: the release of pent-up “survival energy.” Often this is done through shaking and trembling. Only then, once this energy is discharged, does the animal return to normal functioning such as scavenging for food or tending to newborns.

How Trauma Can Trigger and Eating Disorder

Although people often behave similarly when threatened, it is that final important phase that is not always experienced. Whether a woman or girl is traumatized once, or repeatedly, that survival energy is rarely released or neutralized, and therefore, remains trapped within her body. Not only can the trauma help trigger an eating disorder, but this negative energy can serve as fuel for its continuation.

A goal of SE is to release, or discharge, this trapped energy. As in the animal kingdom, this release is often observable through trembling, sweating, crying, and even yawning.

Therapeutic Solutions for Eating Disorders

As with many therapeutic approaches somatic experiencing is enhanced by utilizing other tools such as dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and 12-step recovery principles. This is because these strategies also focus on embracing mindfulness, developing self-awareness and tolerating the experience of the present moment.

 

Image courtesy of Ambro at Freedigitalphotos.net