What Does “Somatic” Mean in Trauma Therapy?

Written By Gabriela Ucrós AMFT

Coming back to our bodies in a disembodied society is a revolutionary act. 

Traditionally in psychotherapy, experts focus on working with your psyche (your thoughts and mind). We see this traditional approach in talk therapy, and while often it can be effective for individuals not experiencing or working through trauma, it usually doesn’t give us the whole picture of what you are experiencing.

The cultural norm (traditional talk therapy) often argues that there is a disconnection between your mind and body, and places a higher value on your thoughts as more trustworthy than what your body communicates. Recently though, there has been a change in the paradigm where the soma, (meaning body in Greek) and the mind are studied alongside one another. This approach of holistic care is an integrative approach for treating the human being as a whole. Thoughts, feelings, sensations, belief systems, temperament, and attitude all have an impact on your physical well-being.

In my experience as a therapist and as a client I have found profound transformation and empowerment through working with somatic tools in psychotherapy.  As a therapist who specializes in working with trauma survivors, the body becomes an active source of meaning, since it is in your body and your nervous system where the trace of trauma prevails, not your thoughts or mind.

The truth is, that we can’t work through symptoms of depression, anxiety, irritability, or emotional dysregulation by working through patterns or emotions alone, we need to get to the root of them, which relies on your body and its sensations. 

When we experience trauma we disconnect from our bodies to protect ourselves. Our nervous system helps us disconnect to keep us alive, and although that disconnect was helpful for us during our traumatic experiences, it is not helpful as we try to heal and come back to our sense of self. 


Healing is reconnecting with our inner wisdom, and that wisdom relies on our bodies. That is why coming back to our bodies in a disembodied society is a revolutionary act.

When we allow ourselves to come back to our bodies and release the traumatic energy we have been carrying through somatic psychotherapy, we are able to heal the stories that the body has been carrying.

In somatic therapy, we use tools like:

  • Grounding

  • Movement

  • Breathing

  • Visualization

  • Self-Regulation

Somatic therapy helps you to start living in the present moment and stop reenacting the traumatic experiences that are keeping you stuck. It allows for you to reach your full potential and to navigate life from a place of authenticity and compassion instead of fear and trauma responses.

Understanding how our body holds onto trauma helps us to heal. If somatic therapy sounds like something you may benefit from you can sign up for a free 30-minute consultation with our therapist matchmaker to see which therapist may be the best fit for you. (California residents only). We provide online therapy and have therapists who are trained in EMDR therapy. We also offer many different types of trauma therapy groups. All of our therapists specialize in trauma-informed care, and informed trauma therapy.

Read more by Woven:

Blog
How to Navigate the Holidays with Complex Trauma
How to Navigate the Holidays with Complex Trauma

For many survivors of complex trauma, the holiday season can be an evocative time. It can bring up anxiety about setting boundaries with difficult family members, grief regarding the people you are not spending the holidays with, or a sense of gratitude about the past year of growth and healing. Let’s talk about how to navigate the holiday season with complex trauma

Read More →
How to Survive the Holidays with Your Family
How to Survive the Holidays with Your Family

In a sequel to the blog titled “How to Survive the Holidays with Your Partner,” I present to you some reflective questions and tips for how to cope with seeing family this holiday season!

Read More →
How to Safely Talk to Loved Ones About Your Trauma, Part III
How to Safely Talk to Loved Ones About Your Trauma, Part III

You’ve done a whole lot of preparation: you’ve thought of what you want to tell your loved one, why, which triggers might come up and how to soothe yourself accordingly, which questions you’ll field (and won’t), when to take breaks, and whether you want to talk about the impact of your trauma on your relationship with the person you’re telling. You’ve even practiced soothing with triggers and taking breaks as needed to help your central nervous system feel safe when you’re distressed. The question is, how do we translate all of that work into having the conversation itself? Let’s talk about it.

Read More →
5 Things That Will Kill Connection In Your Relationship
5 Things That Will Kill Connection In Your Relationship

There are many things that can lead to you no longer feeling connected to your partner or your relationship not functioning in the way you would like. Let’s dive into some key patterns that will kill the connection in your relationship.

Read More →
Demystifying Complex & Complicated Grief
Demystifying Complex & Complicated Grief

Grief is a natural response to loss. It’s what our brains and our bodies do in reaction to the heartbreaking and devastating reality of loss. We humans are extremely resilient, and a vast majority of us will find a way back to living a meaningful life in our own time. Sometimes though, we can get derailed in that natural grieving process and that’s when it may be time to reach out for support. 

Read More →
How to Safely Talk to Loved Ones About Your Trauma, Part II
How to Safely Talk to Loved Ones About Your Trauma, Part II

So, you have an idea of what you want to say to a loved one about what you’ve gone through. You’ve thought about what might come up for you, and practiced soothing yourself in different ways. So what’s next? Planning for what you might specifically need from the conversation and person you’ll be telling. Let's talk about it.

Read More →
What are the 3 Phases of Trauma Therapy?
What are the 3 Phases of Trauma Therapy?

I have had many patients come to therapy with me and say that talk therapy has not been helpful for them. Specifically, I hear the same complaint over and over: I felt like all I did was talk and open up, and I didn’t feel like there was a direction to therapy. When I hear complaints like this, I always want to start with some education about what trauma therapy looks like. Let's dive in.

Read More →
Growing Through Grief
Growing Through Grief

Oomph, so you lost something. You lost something or someone that you loved. We often go so fast as a society, we celebrate the successes and wins, and we tend to ignore the pain associated with loss and grief, or put a time limit on it. Especially non-death-related grief and loss. This is an awful reality to endure for someone grieving. Let’s dive into how processing grief may look as a trauma survivor.

Read More →
How to Safely Talk to Loved Ones About Your Trauma, Part I
How to Safely Talk to Loved Ones About Your Trauma, Part I

So, you’ve accepted that you get triggered pretty regularly because of What Happened, which is huge. It took so long to stop feeling like you were just “acting out for no reason,” and even if you still suspect you’re milking this whole trauma timeline, you also know you deserve a little bit more peace. In this blog post series, we’ll be covering how to have as safe and as containing of a conversation as possible with your loved ones about your trauma.

Read More →
What’s a Timeout Protocol?
What’s a Timeout Protocol?

If you often find yourself in conflict with your partner which leads to yelling, there are a few things you can try to help create an environment for more productive conversation can occur. There should be very few reasons for you to yell or be yelled at, so trying a timeout protocol may help limit this way of engaging in conflict. 

Read More →
Demystifying Dissociation: Derealization and Depersonalization
Demystifying Dissociation: Derealization and Depersonalization

For many people with PTSD and trauma-related disorders, “dissociation” is a term that can seem scary and stigmatized. It can be important to demystify and educate ourselves on dissociation to better understand and validate our experiences.

Read More →
Shame: What Is It and What Can We Do About It?
Shame: What Is It and What Can We Do About It?

What is shame? The dictionary definition is “a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming or impropriety.” One study even defined shame as “negative emotions in which the feeling of global self-evisceration is experienced.” Global self-evisceration. Oof! Shame is extremely unpleasant and painful, and it can affect one’s identity and self-esteem. 

Read More →
Racial Trauma and Intersectionality
Racial Trauma and Intersectionality

Many people are familiar with the idea of intersectionality, or how different aspects of our identities intersect with one another to make us who we are as people. What are the different ways that racial trauma shows up in our lives? Let’s dive in.

Read More →
Psilocybin-Assisted Trauma Treatment, Part III
Psilocybin-Assisted Trauma Treatment, Part III

Psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, is probably going to be legalized for therapeutic use in the United States in the next two years, and that’s on trauma treatment progress. Let’s dive into part III in what that may look like for trauma treatment.

Read More →
How to Maintain Your Relationship in the Midst of Parenting
How to Maintain Your Relationship in the Midst of Parenting

There are five stages in the family life cycle and the stage of parenting is considered the most stressful. This is the time in which divorce rates are at their highest, sex is at its lowest and couples feel the most disconnected. Here are some ideas to help maintain your relationship during this hectic time.

Read More →
Psilocybin-Assisted Trauma Treatment, Part II
Psilocybin-Assisted Trauma Treatment, Part II

We might be only a year or two away from legalizing psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, for therapeutic use in the United States. Let’s talk about what that might look like for future trauma treatment.

Read More →
Gabriela Ucrós AMFT https://woventraumatherapy.com/gabriela-ucros
Previous

LGBTQIA+ Mental Health
Next

Queer Religious Trauma