How Does Sensorimotor Psychotherapy help to heal trauma?
Many are drawn to increasing their “mind-body connection” but it can be confusing to determine what that means. While activities such as yoga, meditation, exercise, physical activity, and sports all consist of a brain-body connection, sensorimotor psychotherapy (SP) is unique in that it uses mindfulness and body awareness to regulate the nervous system and process traumatic or upsetting events that can keep us feeling “stuck.”
In a sense, our brain is actually housed throughout the body through the network of neurons that connect our brain with our spinal cord and the rest of our body. To understand the mechanics of sensorimotor psychotherapy it is important to know about the nervous system. The nervous system can be likened to a program or software that runs on a computer. If our body is the computer, our nervous system is the software that runs programs and sifts through information coming in. Our brain is part of the nervous system and it uses billions of neurons that run throughout the body which communicate with the environment and relay information back. Our nervous system deciphers the data that everyone is constantly inundated with - signals such as temperature, information coming into our five senses like light and sounds, the rate of our breathing and heartbeat - and uses that data to cool our body off, blink our eyes, increase our circulation, or react to keep us safe from harm. In a regulated and healthy nervous system, these processes run smoothly; however due to constant stress, interrupted sleep or health problems, or traumatic and disruptive experiences, the “program” of the nervous system begins to become either over- or under-reactive. This might look like feelings of panic, sweating, racing thoughts, rapid heart rate and breathing, a sense of impending doom, hives, restless sleep (all examples of over-reactive) or fatigue, low mood, hopelessness, reduced motivation, apathy, feelings of unreality, or disconnection (all of these are under-reactive).
SP comes in because, unlike traditional “talk” therapies, increasing awareness of the body allows us to attune to the signals of the nervous system to create present-moment awareness that reduces over- or under-reactivity. In the same way that a virus on a computer might change how a program works, stress on the nervous system can cause these programs to run at too fast or too slow of a pace. SP can be a reset button that helps us to pay attention to natural processes occuring in our body and use mindfulness to bring these responses into awareness.
Once we have awareness of a pattern, such as frequent racing heart, fidgeting, or restlessness, we can explore ways to resource and shift these ingrained patterns. Our nervous system can sometimes create a feedback loop because feeling anxious or worried sends signals that we might be in danger which compounds stress and tells our body to be even more “on guard.” Luckily, our brains also have higher-order skills that allow us to create new patterns, often with the help of therapy.
The next step is to process material that might be stuck in our nervous system and creating repetitive patterns of over- or under-reactivity. This can look like using body awareness to complete responses that are “stuck” in the nervous system and contributing to feeling anxiety, panic, or fatigue. For example, the freeze response might have prevented someone from running away from a dog that was about to bite them. With SP, this memory could be slowed down and the therapist helps the individual mindfully explore their bodily responses to that experience as they recall it; often there are actions that the body wants to take such as pushing away or fleeing from harm that help the nervous system re-regulate and understand the event is now over and the individual is safe.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is substantiated by neuroscience and peer-reviewed research and has been found to be an effective treatment for survivors of traumatic or upsetting events, those with attachment or childhood traumas, as well as individuals with anxiety or physical health symptoms that cannot be medically explained.
SP can be a powerful way of integrating or strengthening the connection between the mind, body, and automatic or reflexive actions in order to increase a sense of peace, heal from trauma, or gain relief from physical symptoms.
If you are interested in beginning or learning more about Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, connect with me at kimberly@intuitivecounselingdenver.com.